The Hunter and his squirrel
by alchemy's homunculi
Summary: "I'm not in Maryland anymore" When twenty four year old fiction writer Katie Dawson and her friends find themselves in their favorite TV show, all they want to do is get back home, where people don't try to pull you apart and eat you. But when they time comes for them to go back will they still want to and will they go alone? Eventually Darylxoc ON HIATUS TILL SEASON 4
1. Prologue

**Hey, so I'm not exactly new to fan fiction, but I am to Walking Dead fan fiction. I usually write Fullmetal Alchemist stories [it's an anime show]. I started watching walking dead a year ago and got hooked. This is a good thing because it's something my brother and I can watch together since we don't exactly like each other very much [you have to love your siblings, but you don't have to like them].**

**Anyway, so I know there are a lot of DarylxOC stories out there, but I'm going to try add a new element to these stories and try not to make my characters too Mary-sue.**

**I noticed there is only ONE story in which a character gets sent to TWD world and happens to be a fan and that story didn't last long enough for me and there wasn't a lot of drama. It was still good though.**

**Sorry if it's a long author's note, but there's so much I want to say. **

**Quick summary: Katie Dawson and her pal's Kyle, Ryan, Collin, Andrew, Dinah, Vanessa, and Jaden never really believed in the existence of different dimensions especially one that happens to be exactly like the Walking Dead's universe. What happens when this young fiction writer finds her friends and her thrown into this zombie-infested world?**

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

**[By the way there knowledge of TWD is only up to the first episode of season 2.]**

Prologue:

"Hey Daniel, what would you do if you got stuck in a zombie apocalypse?" The first episode of season 2 had started barley a few minutes ago.

"Depends," he said with not much thought; we weren't looking at each other because of the fear of missing something important or funny.

"On what?"

"On the situation."

"Oh," I cleared my throat hoping he would get where I was going, at the corner of my eye I saw him roll his eyes and puff out his cheeks.

A long sigh escaped his lips, "What would YOU do?"

"Well… I would get as many uninfected friends and family," I coughed, "Not you. I would then get a boat and go to the virgin Mobil guy's private island," I tried to think of his name, finally snapping my fingers in realization, "Richard Branson, that's his name."

He snorted, "Nope. You would die the second it started, no doubt in my mind."

I exhaled loudly. I wanted to punch him or tell him to stop being so mean, but I knew that he would just hate me more than before if I whined about it. "I think I would live."

"Nope. Too weak."

I didn't really want to argue with him about the apocalypse, I would just lose like every single fucking conversation I have with him. I just went back to watching the episode.

"Damn it!" My eyes glanced over at my annoyed brother Daniel; he was on the verge of throwing the phone in his hands against the small flat screen that had my eyes constant attention till now.

"What?" I asked, my eyes looking back over at the fleeing form of Rick as he left Sophia all alone.

I'm Katie Dawson, age twenty-four. My brother is twenty-nine. We both live in Annapolis, Maryland, but no longer in the same house, mostly because we can barely stand each other. His girlfriend likes to come over to his house more than I do. Let's just say that we never got along. Back when I was eight I was afraid to jump off my grandma's pier and he thought I was being a wuss so he picked me up and threw me in. I had nightmares for years.

At least he has a good enough job to afford a house. I'm a freaking newspaper reporter. I mean who even reads the paper anymore, old people that's who. I made a joke once about the people who were reading the paper only read it because they wanted to see if one of their friends made it to the obituary section yet. I only do this job because I haven't finished my novel yet, so until than I'm forced to clip coupons on my days off and live in a tiny shoe box apartment while my brother only works four days a week and gets to get laid on those days.

My head twisted from the screen to my brother at the sound of a loud groan. His body slumped back down into his seat. One hand covered his eyes while the other closed his black phone.

"We both know that you shouldn't be so stupid as to leave a little girl alone in a walker infested forest, all my friends are saying that she's definitely going to die. No doubt in their minds."

"Won't the fans be mad if they kill off such a sweet girl?" The screen on the TV blacked out for a second before turning into a Ford commercial. I looked back over at my brother.

His eyes narrowed in annoyance, "This is why your stories aren't good. You have trouble killing characters off. It's important in a story to create emotional tension. People would only be mad if they killed off THE most popular character, which for some reason is looking more and more like Daryl."

My eye lightly twitched in irritation while my lips pursed into a scrunched up scowl, "The only reason I'm not a published author is because I haven't really written a complete novel since before I went to college, and all the stories I wrote in the classes I took became waded up A's in the trash can!" My fists clenched at my side in defense and anger.

"Pft, I've seen your writing even after you took those stupid English classes in college. News flash, YOU'RE NOT GOOD. The reason why you don't have a house or anything really is because you chose to get degrees that will NEVER help you. I mean you majored in English and minored in Political science."

"I could get elected into something soon, you know."

"You do understand that no one's going to vote for a feminist republican that's also an atheist. Face it, you're screwed for life."

"You don't know crap. I can SO get published, and if I need more money I'll take night classes and get a degree in business and become a publisher myself."

"And where are you going to get the money to start a publishing company?" His arms crossed over his chest, a smirk of pride graced his lips.

"I'll get a loan," I said while mimicking his body expressions, his expression didn't change into the look of defeat I was waiting for.

"And if you do you'll get into debt because the business will FAIL and than you're going to be worse off than when you started."

"Why do you hate my dreams so much? Every time I get a bullet proof idea you just blow it up with a freaking grenade!"

"Because your dreams are idiotic and nothing you say or know is worth listening to." I was about to tell him how he never once cared for me or ever appreciated anything I did or even congratulated me. Hell, he only hugged me on Christmas because Mom and Dad made him. All my life I just wanted him to stop shushing me when we talked to people and to think of me as an intellectual equal.

"Just watch the freaking episode Katie," he cut me off from saying it, for once in my life I wished commercial break lasted longer.

. . .

_'Hey I just met you and this is craz-'_ I slapped my hand on my IPod touch and turned to lock off, not wanting to listen to the song's annoying tone. The thing with me is that I hate Mondays and Tuesdays, but I absolutely LOVE Wednesdays. I wish it was a Wednesday today.

After thirty minutes of snuggling into my warm bed sheets the song restarted again. With a loud and aggravated groan I lifted myself up from the creaking single bed. Every day I end up changing the alarm and every morning it just becomes more and more annoying. The apartment itself had one bedroom, a small kitchen, and one bathroom. For some that sounds good, but I lived in a ghetto where getting shot was not big news. I always made sure to lock my car up and hide it away in the parking lot; I carried multiple bottles of pepper spray, which I've had to use before. Yeah, I'm that poor. What makes it worse is that my brother likes to remind me almost every time I see him; 'Hey where's the private island you said you would have and what about the genetically created giant tarantula and great white shark that would do battle everyday?' When I was younger I used to talk a lot about the stuff I was going to have when I was a rich author like J.K Rowling. That dream just keeps getting farther away from reality.

I shuffled over towards the closet and randomly pulled out a pair of jeans and a purple FMA: Brotherhood t-shirt, it was my favorite. I turned towards the cracked vanity mirror; I had medium light brown hair that came just to my shoulders and green eyes that could sometimes pass of as blue. Light freckles dusted against my nose, I was lucky that my acne went away a few years ago and didn't really pop up anymore. When I was eighteen I had gone out with some friends and dyed a strip of my hair snowy white. I should probably dye it again seeing as the roots are beginning to grow out.

As far as height goes, I was the definition of a normal girl's height. A lot guys were taller than me, but I was taller than fifty percent of the female population. I was pretty much as thin as one of those Barbie dolls I played with when I was little and then ended up burning when I decided one day that Barbie dolls where the media's way of saying that unless you're blonde with big tits and thin as a twig then you're ugly as shit. I wasn't strikingly pretty like a model, but I wasn't a plain girl that never got noticed by the opposite sex either. Some would deem that lucky, but I honestly had no need for it.

As I slipped off my old jeans for the new ones I glared at the scar a few inches below the top of my thigh. I tried not to think of the memories it held: those black eyes and the blood were not something I wanted to think about.

I just wasn't the type of girl who goes to bars, gets drunk and get's into a bunch of one night stands or has relationships and sleeps with the guy after a month. I did have a buzzing headache from last night, as soon as I left Daniel's house at ten o'clock exactly I drove straight to a bar in downtown Annapolis by the Naval academy. I drank alone for once seeing as Kyle and the others were out in the mountains cabin camping. I thought back to last time we drank together.

_"You okay, Katie?" Kyle asked as I walked straight in with an aurora of anger, not even bothering to say hello to them. I took a seat at the bar next to Kyle and some stranger who was turned away, laughing with some friends seated next to him._

_Kyle stood at five-foot-eleven with curly brown hair that came to his ears. He had olive green eyes and thin eyebrows; his face looked to have a five o'clock shadow, but I couldn't tell seeing as I refused to look at him._

_Next to Kyle sat Andrew, who resembled Kyle a lot, having the same curly hair but instead it was the color of snow. He topped Kyle by two inches. Next to Andrew were Collin and Ryan._

_Collin had buzz-cut dirty blond hair and was the tallest of them all at six-foot-three unlike Ryan, Kyle, and Andrew, Collins body type was thick with muscle. His face was rugged like he had been here longer than he actually had been._

_Ryan had raven black hair scattered around his face in a messy fashion. He was shorter than most of the guys, and shorter than me by an inch._

_"Got back from having dinner with Daniel and Kirstein," my voice was low as I stared down at the large glass of beer Kyle put in front of me._

_"What happened?" _

_I hesitated, "We talked about my novel and how they won't get me shit in this world." I took a swig of my drink before finishing, "I-I just want him to believe in me."_

_"You don't need your brother to tell you how awesome you are," Andrew tried to reassure me, reaching over and patting my back._

_"I keep telling myself that but… it never works." They didn't answer me; they probably knew nothing they could say would make it any better. _

_For a few minutes we sat in silence, just sipping at our drinks and occasionally giving sideways glances to each other. I took one more sip, empting the glass. I closed my eyes for a moment, after doing this for three years I was barely buzzed._

_When I opened my eyes again I looked down to see my glass had been replaced by some fruity mixed drink that my mom and aunts would get when they celebrated their birthdays._

_I glanced next to me; the man beside me had stopped laughing with his friends. He gave a smoldering look, his head resting on his hand, which was propped up by his elbow._

_I pushed the drink away from me, narrowing my eyes at the man beside me._

_"I was told never to take drinks from strange men." _

_He chuckled lightly, edging the drink back towards me. "Brad Armand, sweetheart. What's yours?" _

_I inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of spilled beer and drunken men, "I'm not a slut, go talk to the blonde girls in the back with half tube tops. They'll give you a 'good' time for the reasonable price of twenty bucks."_

_"Why have used goods when I can have a pretty girl like you?"_

_"Look dude, I'm no-"_

_"When a lady says no she means no… unless she's saying no to me and Andrew." I looked over at Kyle and the others. They had moved from the seats and surrounded Brad and me. Collin cracked his knuckles, glaring at him. He easily towered over him making him stiffen with fear._

_"I can take care of myself you know," I said, but they didn't back down._

_"Oh, we know but what kind of friends would we be if we let every guy around you pester you like this?"_

_"Look man, I was only being-"_

_"Nice? Ha! Yeah right. After she took that drink would you 'nicely' take her unconscious body behind an ally, hmmm?" They took a step forward getting closer to him. The men Brad had been laughing with had turned to see my friends getting ready to rip this guy's spleen out through his throat._

_"What fuck are you guys doing?" They stood up from their seats; they outnumbered my friends by two._

_"Tell 'Brad' to get the fuck away from our friend," Collin pointed to me. I buried my face in my hands. Believe it or not, this sort of thing happened a lot._

_"Ain't his fault that whore's leading him on." _

_That was it. Collin snapped. He grabbed the tallest guy in front of him by his collar. He pulled his fist back getting ready to unleash some hell._

_"HEY! If you guys are gonna fight, then take it outside," the bar tender motioned to the door, a whisky bottle in hand._

_The men hesitated before walking out; I had once tried to stop them from fighting when this happened, seeing as Kyle had once gotten his ribs broken because of underestimating a shorter guy._

_I didn't wait for them to come back as I paid for my drink and left for my apartment and my dog._

When I finally showered and got ready, I popped a Pop Tart in the toaster since I didn't bother to load the dishwasher last night. I wanted to go asleep as fast as I could so I could dream of taking zombies out one by one alongside Glenn, Rick, and Daryl. Yeah, that's my version of a good dream; I like things like the Evil Dead and every Vincent Price movie, unlike some people… like all my female friends.

As the sickly sweet aroma caressed my nose the sound of a loud spring popping caught my attention only for a moment before the feeling of a soft tail hit the back of my leg making me jump onto the floor. I groaned at the feeling of my head colliding with the tile. I was only clumsy in the morning.

Slobbery licks covered my face as slowly got up holding my injured head and ass. It was like he was trying to kiss away my boo-boos. I looked down at my golden retriever, Ike. Four and a half years old and still acts as if he came out of the puppy mill just yesterday. Unlike some golden retrievers Ike's fur is more of a golden yellow than red.

"Yes, I'll feed you in a second buddy, just give me a moment." I walked over to the cupboard with the feeling of Ike following my every step. I thought about my conversation with Daniel last night.

When I had left his house I saw his girlfriend driving in. He had been with her for some time and talked about marrying her. Me… I wasn't going to get a relationship anytime soon. I'm what some Jane Austen novels might call 'a spinster in the making.' I don't really go into much detail why, but Andrew loves to bring up my past relationships with anybody willing to listen.

The story goes that when I was in high school I dated a guy named Tad Mager. We went out for two weeks. We went to movies and hung out at the mall like normal teenagers. The last day we went out it happened to be Valentine's day. I expected flowers or candy but what I got was a poem.

_Every time I see your eyes it reminds me of the sky._

_Every time I hear your voice I'm reminded of the song I wrote for you called_

_You're the love of my life._

Then it had a stupid poorly drawn picture of us on it. I showed it to my friends they of course laughed and then Andrew took the poem and kept it away from me so I couldn't rip it up.

BREENG. I jumped up and thankfully caught myself by holding onto the handle of the cabinet door. I looked over at my phone, which was ringing a little too loud for seven in the morning.

"Son of a bitch doesn't even let me get my dog any god damn food," I mumbled under my breath.

The caller ID said that it was Carly. Carly was Kyle's girlfriend and a friend of mine. Honestly Kyle was a little too perverted to really seem like he could be a good boyfriend, but since they've been dating for a year he must have something good about him.

"Yep?" I answered with a bit of frustrated tone.

"Katie, have you seen Kyle or the others lately?" She sounded concerned.

"Weren't they suppose to come back yesterday from that cabin trip up in the mountains?"

"Yeah, but when they didn't I tried to call, but it was dropped. So I asked Dinah, Vanessa, and Paton to go look for them since they were only ten minutes away and they took Jaden, too. But they left hours ago and now they won't answer either."

I took a deep breath, remembering that they were picking Jaden up for me; I can't believe I forgot. Jaden's mom worked a lot so I became like a second mom to her. Julie was a family friend and her daughter's father was a complete jackass. "And?"

"And what?" She sounded annoyed.

"Did you call the cops?"

"No, because I don't think they'd be considered missing just yet. I was wondering if you could-"

"Go out there since I'm only an hour away?"

"Please?"

"Fine, but when I drag your boyfriend's sorry ass back here I better get some kind of present, and not the cheap crap. Ten buck minimum!"

"Thank you Katie!" She hung up without even saying goodbye. I looked down at Ike, who was staring at me and wagging his tail like he was getting a treat.

"The things I do for stuff. Come on, Ikey. Were going for a long walk." As if he knew what I was saying, his tail wagged faster while he trotted over to the door.

I stomped my way to my bedroom closet, the noise only made my head throb worse.

Despite Carly not being here I still made loud grumbling sounds while throwing in random articles of clothing, books, and other items into a bag. Things I would need when I got Jaden back from those clowns.

I just hope that they weren't lost and she wasn't freaking out. It made me want to cry at the idea of her sweet dimply face that usually had a pink tint to it, red with sadness and fear.

. . .

"How big can a forest be? Those tree huggers are always complaining about deforestation and crap like that, so how come this stuff keeps going on and on forever?" The blue leash I kept on Ike pulled on my aching arm. After going on this never ending trail for an hour I noticed that I began to sweat which was weird since it was winter in Maryland.

I took a break to catch my breath; I hadn't really been running, but I must have been doing something hard to make me sweat. I waited ten minutes in until I noticed that it was the temperature that was getting to me.

"How the fuck can it be this hot? I know the groundhog promised an early spring, but I didn't think it would come this fast," I got up from the ground I had been sitting on, Ike started to pull at my leash again. "Don't dogs ever get tired?"

Hours passed and the day began to end.

"Great, if I keep this up than I'll be on the front page." Ike began to whimper, ignored it he probably just wants to go sniff something.

I started to get bored with just walking around and watching my dog. I was alone in the forest with little to no protection and who knows what could possibly be out here. My brother would say that this was typical me.

My brother… I pulled at Ike's leash and told him to heel while I banged my back against a tree trunk. What was I going to do with my life? People have always told me that my writing was great and I would get published, but they were too afraid to tell me the truth. Daniel was the only person who could give me accurate thoughts on what a reader would feel towards it, but every time I showed him he would just reject it. It never got better, never. Even though every word he told me left me with sense of failure, I always showed him what I was working on.

I just wanted to be his sister.

"What's wrong boy? Do you see a squirrel?" He's whimper became a growl. "Do you see Kyle or Andrew, because I would growl if I saw them too." He continued staring into the thick trees. "Collin, Ryan, Paton, Dinah, Vanessa? Anyone of importance?" Ike's growl started to scare me so I picked up my pace and walked even farther out. "I think I should lie down," the trees around me started to look different almost as if the forest was changing into something that better fit the temperature.

There was no sign of a cabin, but there was a huge tree big enough for me to climb up. I was too scared of anything that could be wandering below.

"Hush Ike." He started to growl again as I tied him to a nearby tree. Probably wasn't a good idea to be up here, but I needed to rest for a while. No way could spring come this early and the heated. I haven't really had any water since breakfast, so might I be dehydrated. I pulled at my pack but to my surprise I brought everything but water and food, "Un-fucking-believable!"

His whimpers became loud and I decided it best to climb higher. After all this crap I noticed something was up. Ike didn't stop growling and the scenery still didn't change.

"Carly better get me something good." As Ike stopped I noticed the leaves next to me begin to rustle. I held onto the tree so I wouldn't get too startled and jump.

In one swift motion a squirrel leaped from my branch. The surprise shocked me and I swung my leg out.

"SON OF A BITCH!" A sharp pain hit my leg and I fell from the tree onto my ass. When my head stopped spinning I noticed that the cause of my discomfort was an arrow.

"Wait? What's an arrow doing in my leg?" I sucked in a ragged breath. I wanted to scream, but all that I could do was let a single tear fall from my eyes.

"Well look ah tha squirrel we caught lil' bro." My eyes widened at the sound of that voice.

Shit. I'm not in Maryland anymore.


	2. What the hell

**Hey so I would like to thank countrylove17 for following, BabyGirl242** **and easylOvefor following also ANIMAL-LOVER for following AND Favoriting I noticed there were some spelling mistakes and I went back and corrected them. I really wanted to publish the story and it was late at night so I rushed. REVIEW please, constructive criticism is always welcomed.**

**Enjoy**

_We came here on his back And we caught your eye _

_The salty ocean wind Made the seagulls cry _

_The rocking of his house Had me holding on But I knew that I was safe From there on out_

_And the waves that hit his face Marked the past And the the farrows on his skin Oh, how time goes fast_

_And we are far from home, but we're so happy Far from home, all alone, but we're so happy_

_After every sunny day Came a stormy night That's when Finner would say Keep your heads held high_

_And we are far from home, but we're so happy Far from home, all alone, but we're so happy_

_And we are far from home, but we're so happy Far from home, all alone, but we're so happy_

From Finner by Monster's and Men

Ike's growl died and turned into a soft whimper upon realizing what had been close by.

My eye's resembled Mickey Mouse ears and my heart started to pound just as much as my head. I didn't try moving, mostly because of shock and pain.

Maybe . . . Maybe I had walked on to the set of TWD. Although I would think it would take place in the same area as the show was set but there was no other explanation for what was going on.

It would also make sense if Carly's calls were dropped. If they found the set like I did than I wouldn't answer anyone either. Vanessa, Ryan, and Collin are the only ones that actually watch it though. I wonder why the people in charge would be stupid enough to use real arrows or bolt's as Daryl likes to call them. What if one of their Zombie\Walker extra's got hurt?

I looked down towards my leg. It was throbbing with pain and blood dripped down on to the leafy ground. Hopefully they kept an emergency medic nearby.

My eye's looked back at the branch I fell from. I could see that I had fallen at least twenty feet, on my head and my ass.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of leaves crunching near my head. My heart speed up when I could hear that the person stopped barely a foot away from my head.

I slightly turned my gaze towards the person next to me. A lump caught in my throat when I saw the actor who plays Merle, he crouched down beside me. Instead of looking concerned like anybody would, he was smirking.

"What where ya doin' up in tha tree darlin'" He still used the same southern accent and voice. Maybe he didn't want to break character.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Ike's growls had my attention before I could. His voice was even louder than before.

I Jumped a bit at the sight of one of the extra's playing a walker zombie. The makeup was really good since you couldn't even tell he wasn't an actor. His skin was shriveled like a prune and a chunk of his arm was missing. When he opened his mouth blood ran down his mouth and smeared the battered shirt that looked like it had once been blue.

Merle's actor quickly got up and took out a gun, unlike me who just sat there. I think the walker extra also liked to stay in character.

He started to approach me, hissing and snarling like a rabid animal. I backed up from my spot felling scared when he wouldn't let up. I flinched, closing my eyes when a horrible road kill smell hit my nose.

I opened my eyes back up when I heard clicking type of sound followed by the end of the leaves crunching by the zombie extra. I looked over at the zombie extra, he stood dead in his tracks, It took me a moment to realize that an arrow similar to the one in my leg pierced through his skull. Black blood oozed as he fell backwards with and landed with a loud thud.

That was no special affect, that dude was dead and dead before. My head snapped to the side to look at Daryl, he had beat Merle to shooting the zombie. Without even taking a glance at me, he walked up to the zombie lying flat and motionless and pulled out his arrow in a swift motion. Looking back at Merle I could see that he still had his hand and that there were no cameras or producers around. This . . . was real.

"What the hell!" I propped my body up with my elbows, My heat beat double time making me shake with fear and shock.

"Wha aint neveah seen ah bitter before" I couldn't respond, the words in my throat refused to come out. If it wasn't for the stinging pain in my leg I would of thought that this was a dream.

I started wide eyed and confused, Daryl took a step towards me. I backed up against the tree I had fallen from.

I was never a fainter but as he continued towards, cross bow In hand my vision blurred as they started walking towards me.

. . .

Slowly cracking my eyes open I realized that it was all just a dream. I mean how could things like that exist.

I must have laid down after hitting my head against my kitchen tile. My sight was blurry from waking up and I could only make out colors. I tried lifting myself up but I sat right back down before I was even an inch off my bed.

My Body hurt all over, I know the tile was hard but not that hard. I started to think about my dream. Was it even a dream? My left arm lifted up towards my eyes and rubbed at them. When things began to clear up, I scanned the area around me. It looked as if I was back in a girl scouts camping trip. The ten was fairly clean despite being out in the woods.

A small noise in the corner made me jump. I was not alone.

A woman kneeled down in the corner and rummaged through a back pack. She must not have noticed that I was awake.

"Uh?" I said in a soft tone, she stopped what she was doing and turned to look at me. It took only a second to recognize her. She had short hair that out grew a buzz cut by an inch and her face had a caring look on her face, like the one my mother used to show. Any fan of TWD could tell this was Carol. The good news about it being Carol was that she was one of the nicest characters in the show unlike some 'cough' 'cough' deputy Jackass.

"Oh, you're awake" I looked at her wide eyed and confused. I still haven't gotten over the fact that this place is real. I took deep breaths, not wanting to faint again.

She slowly walked over towards me, not wanting to scare me. I noticed that she had a wet washcloth in her hand. Carol helped me sit up while gently washing a nasty cut on the side of my head. Funny first time I climb a tree and a fall badly on my head and ass.

"Thank you" I mumbled

"You're welcome . . . I'm sorry if the Dixon's scared you" Ha, they did a lot more than scare me.

"It's okay; they did kill that Zombie for me" she looked at me weirdly for a moment

"Zombie . . . that's a new one" I than realized that pretty much everyone here called Zombie's everything but what the media call's them. 'Geeks, Biters, Walkers, lame Brains' I honestly don't know where geeks came from.

"As I thought about the Zombie I encountered my mind wandered to Ike.

"Oh Shit, Ike!" I face palmed when I realized that I had left Ike all alone in a forest where any of those Zombies could get at him.

"You alright?" I turned my gazed towards the entrance of the tent it took me a second to recognize who it was seeing as I haven't seen Amy In a long time. I remember being upset that she died and even more upset as time went on seeing as a lot of people wished it was Andrea had died instead of Amy.

"I-I forgot my Dog"

"Are you talking about the one that followed you and the Dixons back to camp?"

"He's got long golden yellow fur"

"Yeah that's him; he followed you in here and watched as we pulled that arrow out of your leg. He went outside about ten minutes ago, I saw him playing with the Kids when I came in here" I exhaled deeply and sat back a little more.

"So . . . What's your name?" I looked back over at Amy. I knew what would become of her and I honestly didn't want to feel worse when it did happen.

"Katie, Katie Dawson" I replied

"Well I'm Amy and that's Carol" 'I know' I thought

"I- well we were wondering why you were in the forest alone with your dog?" I remembered why I came here in the first place.

"Have you seen some new people recently, like eight of them? Four boys and girls, one of them is three years old?"

"Yeah actually are you friends with them, they were wondering around a few days ago. The four boys came first. I remembered one of them was called Kyle."

"Yep that's them"

"They don't know you're here yet though, they went down with Lori and the other woman to help with the laundry"

"Who knows I'm here?"

"Just us and some other guys around camp, Shane said he wanted to talk to you when you woke up. You've been asleep all night"

"It was a good thing you didn't wake up when they were taking that arrow out of your leg" said Carol

"Well Thank You two for helping me, can one of you tell me when the others get back. I would like a word with Kyle"

. . .

He stood there with his back slumped up against a tree and his cross bow by his side. In the middle of the camp the younger kids threw sticks and watched the dog retrieve them.

Dale took his regular post on top of the RV and kept a look out for stray walkers. Shane at the moment was nowhere to be seen and neither was Lori who came back early saying that she had forgotten something. Glen at the moment was on a run in Atlanta.

Amy and Carol however were busy helping the girl he shot with an arrow yesterday. He grimaced at the thought of her. They had already agreed to help a small group they found in the woods two days ago. At first it was just four guys but the next day a group of four girls came by who happened to know the four boy's as friends they were looking for.

He chuckled lightly when he thought of how the Chinese boy had been staring at the younger looking chick with chocolate brown eyes. She however showed no signs of taking an interest in him.

He couldn't even remember why he even bothered to take her back with him; she would be just more dead weight to them all. The camp didn't need another woman to wash laundry and complain about the food.

He hadn't even tried to bring the dog but before he could even carry the girl three steps, the dog had already pulled at his leash it enough to get it loose from the tree he was tied to.

Because of her and her dog he had to finish his hunt early, having only three squirrels to bring back. Not to mention the other squirrel she scared away.

"Thinkin' bout tha lil squirrel ya caught" his head turned to look at his brother

"Thinkin bout how she scared away ma dinner that's what"

"Ah nice piece of ass is ah lil better than one squirrel" All Daryl did was grunt in response.

Meanwhile

The hot afternoon beat down on everyone returning from either doing laundry or watching over the woman.

Kyle walked in front with the other seven of his group; they took care in making sure no one could hear their conversation.

"I'm kind of disappointed that I never bothered to watch this show, I would have been easier to understand why some guy tried biting my leg." Whispered Paton

Paton was the tallest of the three girls, her pale skin coverd with small dotted freckles was begging to get tanner with each hour she spent under the hot sun without much protection. Light hazel eyes scanned the perimeter of the trail. Her dark brunette hair that comes close to black was tied up in a pony tail and held back with a small green head band swayed back and forth with each step. Her clothes consisted of a white tank top and a pair of jeans that were cut shorter to better adapt to the hotter climate, sweat began to stick to the back of her shirt.

"Doesn't matter now, all I want to do is get the heck back. You know where dead guys stay dead" said Dinah

Dinah was much shorter than everyone else being close to the height of a fourteen year old girl. Her chestnut brown hair shaded her shoulders from the sunburn that was forming on her arms. Her chocolate brown eyes and a smooth creamy face made her look younger than most women her age. Her clothes however where a blue undershirt and a pair of tight black shorts that didnt seem to show much damage.

"Din-na wheres mommy and Kaden?" Jaden held a constant grip on the hem of Dinah's shirt. Not once did she let go of her since they arrived here.

Jaden barley stood above Dinah's knees. Her naturally curly hair bounced up and down, the bright sun helped brighten the unique dark brown hair that somehow had a blonde tint to it. A small pink dress swayed against her knees.

Vanessa had brown hair that was shaved on one side giving her an odd look. She stood at five foot five and had freckles across her red nose.

"Julie is . . . working and Kaden has things to do" said Kyle, Kaden was Jaden's way of saying Katie.

Before any of them could say anything else they noticed a stick being thrown their way. In a second a golden furred dog stood in front of them.

"Hey isn't that Ike" the dog had forgotten all about the stick and started jumping up and down on the friends

"Yeah we missed you two buddy" said Kyle lightly patting Ike's head

"Wait If that's Ike than that must mean" Before he could finish Katie stood in front of one of the tent's with Carol and Amy behind her.

"Hey Katie!" Said Vanessa as she and the others began to run towards her

"Wait!" they stopped in their tracks, Kaite's voice was hard and serious

"Kyle how are you" she began to walk towards him, completely ignoring the others.

"Awe ya missed me Honey Boo bo-"

'CRACK' a loud collective gasp came from the group behind Kyle as he fell back on his ass, holding his face where she had slapped him with much force

"THAT'S FOR CARLY MAKING ME COME OUT HERE TO FIND YOURE SORRY ASS!"


	3. reunited

**I really want to thank easylOve for reviewing and agreeing to Beta my story. Also Lilly72 for following and JackSparrowsWench92 for following and favorite-ing. With her help I went back and improved the prologue making Katie's OC come out a bit so check it out. I will look back at the second chapter too. REVIEW Please!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned TWD than there would be a personal rule to those writing the show. 'YOU WILL BE FIRED IF YOU SO MUCH AS TRY AND KILL DARYL DIXON, NO EXPECTIIONS. Although he is too popular for the real writers to want to kill off anyway. My friends who watch TWD already agreed to riot of IF it did happen. So I may be one of the people in the streets creating chaos one Sunday night.**

_And so I cry sometimes,_

_When I'm lying in bed Just to get it all out._

_What's in my head,_

_And I, I am feeling a little peculiar._

_And so I wake in the morning,_

_And I step outside,_

_And I take a deep breath and I get real high,_

_And I scream from the top of my lungs,_

_What's going on?_

_And I say: HEY! Yeah yeaahh, HEY yeah yea!_

_I said hey, what's going on?_

_"What's up" by 4 Non Blondes_

My fists were clenched by my side; I intended to kick him hard enough that he could mimic Adele's voice, but a voice told me otherwise, the voice of a child.

"Kaden!" My attention turned away from Kyle to Jaden. By this point she had let go of Dinah's shirt and began running towards me. The fire in my eyes burned low with each step she took towards me. Never could I be mad at a child or at least one young enough to not know much in this world. Jaden was surprisingly fast for a three year old who had only recently stopped talking in babbles and switched to longer sentences. Within seconds she was by my legs, her arms outstretched.

I complied by picking her up and holding her tight against me. For a few moments I was delighted that I was lucky enough that she hadn't died in the forest. I guess Dinah, Paton, And Vanessa live to see another day.

My eyes looked over Jaden's shoulder as I stared at the three girls; they were in awe as they watched me clutch Jaden. They had no idea how pissed I was.

"Hey you three!" They stiffened at my harsh words, "Kyle isn't the only one I'm pissed at."

"What did we do?" Paton whined like a child whose parents yelled at her, and I scoffed. There is no fucking way that they don't know why I'm pissed.

"What type of people bring a three year old child into a forest alone and unarmed when they know something was up?" I knew that they didn't expect to be sent to the land of the dead, but they were fully aware that someone could of killed Kyle and the others while they were out there.

". . . We weren't thinking." I let out a loud sigh of annoyance as I started pacing back in forth; Jaden buried her face deeper into my neck.

"Is there a problem here?" I hadn't noticed that everyone else was had been staring at us. They were probably confused as to why I was yelling at them.

Shane approached my friends and me, Lori stood close behind him. She looked at me from behind his shoulders. On top of the RV Dale's binoculars where hanging from his neck as he stared at us, completing ignoring his duty.

Andrea had walked around us and took a place in front of Amy. Carol had tried to walk towards us, but Andrea put a hand on her shoulder singling her not to get involved.

Ike had stridden over from Kyle to Carl and Sophia; both of their arms had dropped to their sides. Sticks were clenched in their hands.

Daryl and Merle watched from the forest. Their faces showed some interest in the scene in front of them. Everyone else either moved farther away from the apparent fight or watched from the very edge of the forest.

"No officer, our friend here just seems to be PMS-ing." My eyes narrowed towards Andrew.

"You know her?"

"She's a friend," his eyes looked at me, then moved over to my friends.

"Doesn't seem like it."

"She's just mad that we sort of disappeared with Jaden," Dinah's soft voice cracked as she stared into mine, by this point the fiery anger had built up again. My gaze slowly went back to Shane. He held an arm out in front of Lori, trying to stop her from getting closer to me.

"Shane, she's not a threat," her voice was laced with annoyance. He hesitated before reluctantly letting his arm down. She showed no signs of being intimidated as she advanced toward me. For a moment she stared at me wondering what to say. "Is she your Daughter?" My eyes widened with disbelief, I was about to say no in my own special way when Andrew beat me to it.

"Pft, she hasn't even been a real relationship since junior year and that lasted for what… two weeks?"

"Don't 'F' with me, Andrew," I said trying to avoid using profanity around Jaden. "Actually I'm her godmother."

"See Shane, she's perfectly fine."

"You have no idea how dangerous she can be, sister."

"Andrew, if Jaden wasn't in my arms I would slap you so hard that there would be a permanent hand print on your cheek."

"See! She's threatening me! Arrest her!" He pointed an accusing finger towards me. I put Jaden down to the ground despite her not wanting to let go just yet. He knew what was coming and ran while I chased after him. "HELP! Assault! Homicide! RAPE!"

"Shut the fu-fruits up, Andrew!" I remembered that Jaden was still there. Before I could latch onto the collar of his shirt I felt a hand hold me by mine. I looked back at both Collin and Ryan, who where restraining me.

"Just calm down, Katie. The last thing we need is to have everyone here think you're dangerous. We know you aren't, your bark is definitely worse than your bite, but everyone else doesn't know that yet. Just please. For us; for Jaden." I stared directly into his eyes; he was serious. I sucked in a breath and let out a frustrated exhale.

"Okay, I'll play nice," Andrew had now come back from jogging around in random directions.

By this point Shane had an eyebrow raised at me. His hand was closer to the gun on his belt than before.

"She's really nice when you get to know her, she's just very… sensitive."

"Yeah, sensitive," my friends repeated, some with sarcasm. Shane looked at me for a few moments, then back at Collin.

"Fine, she can stay," he moved back towards me, "Just watch what you do around here." He turned away from us, grabbing Lori's hand and pulling her away with him.

"Oh, and Andrew," Andrew snapped his head towards me, his smirk faltered with some fear, "That relationship lasted two AND a half weeks."

. . .

As soon as Katie had left the scene and returned to the tent, Andrea and Amy approached Vanessa and Dinah who were standing with their heads tilted to the side and their eyes squinting in confusion.

"Geez, what crawled up her ass?" Dinah and Vanessa snapped out of their daze upon the sound of Andrew approaching them from behind. Loud pants escaped his mouth with each step. Behind him was Kyle; his shirt had large dirt and dust stains all over.

"She was worried, Andrew. We shouldn't have brought a child into this and because of Carly she's stuck here too!"

"What do you mean stuck here?" Amy asked.

Vanessa hesitated to answer, "W-We were headed somewhere with our… other friends. The rule was that if… um… we didn't return in time then the others would leave without us. So we kind of just lost are other group." Dinah hoped that both girls didn't notice the obvious fear in her voice. More sweat rolled down Vanessa's neck as both women stood there staring at her with blank expressions.

"I'm sorry that you lost your group. You're perfectly welcome here." The four exhaled in relief, while their tensed body's relaxed

"So, how did you guys find Katie?" Dinah asked.

"Oh, Daryl and Merle carried her here," Amy answered. Vanessa scrunched her face up in a disbelieving look.

"Why the heck would they do that?!" Dinah yelled slightly, but not loud enough for any of the others to notice.

"Well, I guess they kind of shot her in the leg and she fell from a tree."

"What! Dear God. That must've hurt."

"Yeah, she was out all last night. We didn't tell many people in case she was dangerous. If we knew you had a connection with her than we would have warned you guys and Kyle sooner."

"S'okay, she would of just have slapped me sooner if she knew I was here."

"She seems to intimidate you all. You sure she's a friend?" asked Andrea.

"Of course she is; we've been friends since middle school. Yeah, she can be a little scary at times, but she can't hurt us too badly. I know it seems like she's dangerous. Andrew really didn't help prove otherwise, but she can be really nice if she wants to."

"Then why did she hit Kyle?"

"Because he FUCKED UP. It's not like she did any real damage to him." Vannessa turned to narrow her eyes at Kyle who shrugged his shoulders almost as if he didnt know what he did.

"Just scared me, that's all. She may not hit hard, but damn she can yell."

"She's kind of like our mom sometimes and other times she's our gossip buddy," Dinah chimed in.

"Other times she's a good shoulder to cry on and always a good source of entertainment," Vanessa laughed.

"Other time's she's our drinking buddy," said Andrew.

"And other times she's my fuck buddy."

"Kyle, we all know that Katie would never do any crap like that, especially with you."

"How would you know?"

"Because when she talks to Carly she doesn't look away in guilt or embarrassment."

"Actually she looks at her with pity, pity that she has to be your girlfriend." They hestiated for a moment before they bursted out laughing, Kyle's hand patted against Andrew's back while Dinah held onto Vannessa with both hands to stop herself from falling.

"Wait," the four stopped laughing.

"YOU have a girlfriend?" Andrea's eyes popped out with disbelief. They hesitated a moment before laughing even louder than before.

**Don't worry there's going to be some Daryl goodness very very soon!**


	4. campfire stories

**READ, REVIEW, FAV, AND FOLLOW. **

**I would like to thank** **MonkeysGoBoo for adding the story as a favorite, DIUC for following and Nightingale'sLullaby for following and adding as a favorite.**

**ANYONE WHO REVIEWS GETS A VIRTUAL SQUIREL [First five get one with one of Daryl's arrows in its head]**

**Chuula: Don't worry I'll update a lot, thank you for reviewing:] virtual cookie for you**

**In this chapter katie has her first real encounter with daryl, this time she doesnt get shot**

_Lets gather around the campfire And sing our campfire song Our C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E S-O-N-G song And if you don't think that we can sing it faster then you're wrong But it'll help if you just sing along_

_Patrick: Pam Pam Pam..._

_SpongeBob: C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E S-O-N-G song C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E S-O-N-G song And if you dont think that we can sing it faster then you're wrong But it'll help if you just sing along_

_C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E S-O-N-G song Patrick!_

_Patrick: Song! C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E..._

_SpongeBob: Squidward good It'll help It'll help If you just sing along! O Yea!_

_By spongebob_

"Kaden why are you mad at Ky-well?" Katie stared into her deep blue eyes, the day was coming to a close and the much needed relief from the sun made it easier to stand outside.

Up in till this point Katie had been reading 'Yertle the turtle'. One of the children books in a green tote bag that Julie had given Dinah before they left for Katie's apartment. Of course they never made it there before Dinah's impractical need to help people led them here, in zombie land.

Jaden rested her head against Katie's lap; the book's itself only being a few inches away from her face. Katie propped her back against a tree close to the Camp.

He endangered Ryan, Collin, and Andrew. He worried Carly making her send Dinah, Paton, and Vanessa to come help him and then they took Jaden with them, she thought.

That was why, she knew of the horrible dangers this world had to offer and now Jaden was a part of it. A three year old child shouldn't be in this, for all Katie knew she could be ripped apart tomorrow, today, or any moment she stay's here.

"Kyle he- . . . he's being a big dummy."

"I thought you said he waz always like tha?"

"Yes well he's being a SUPER dummy today" Jaden's lips twisted into a big toothy smile as she giggled, Both Katie and Julie loved to see these moments but in a place like this, moments like these will only become more and more scarce.

Meanwhile

"That girl really seems to love Jaden" Lori's gaze went between the clothes she was folding to the young child snuggled into Katie's lap. The way she treated Jaden was almost like Katie really was her own mother. In a place like this it was more than likely that her real mother was either dead or was never going to see her own child again.

"Yeah well I still don't trust her"

"What's your problem with her Shane?"

"I just don't want us to take people in without taking some precaution, we've barely know anything about these new people. Just because they have a child doesn't mean that there completely harmless " The folded up blue tank top slammed on Lori's lap, she looked up from the pile clothes to Shane who sat on a lawn chair in front of her, he slowly cleaned the guns he had brought with him

"So you think they're going to hurt us, attack us and steal are supplies. I don't think they have the means to try and pull off a task. Have you ever thought that maybe you're just a little paranoid?"

His back leaned to the other direction, avoiding her gaze. Her jaw clenched making a hard grimace with her lips. Shane could feel her annoyance with his lack of an answer.

"I just don't think she's right for the group that's all" her jaw slackened, a frustrated sigh released from her lips as she shook her head.

"You never know"

Back with Katie . . .

"How did ya find me?" Her head turned from looking at Kyle and Andrew who at the moment where harassing Dinah as she folded their clothes, occasionally she would throw a pair of pants or shirt at them.

"I went looking in the woods for you and those dummies when I . . . um . . . got mistaken for a squirrel and fell out of tree" Her cheek bones rose as she giggled wildly

"But you don't look like a sqi-rel"

"You're right I don't, but I still fell from the trees like one"

"But how did ya find the camp"

"Oh, Daryl and Merle brought me here" she titled her head to the side and pursed her lips; I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Dinah told me to stay away from them, She said that they were bad guys" I chuckled lightly

"Good you should stay away from them but they aren't totally bad if they helped me"

"Did you thank them?"

"No, why?"

"Mommy says that when people do nice things than the other person needs to thank them for it" I looked over to the other end of the campsite. Daryl leaned against the tailgate of his truck, cleaning his cross bow with a rag.

I looked back at Jaden, her face stood at a blank, wondering what I was thinking.

"Hey Jaden why don't you go play with Ike and the other kids. Eliza and Louis found a tennis ball" Her smile thinned out into a straight line, she turned her on her side not looking at me.

"What's wrong" I rubbed at the bottom of my chin, she inhaled deeply through her nose.

"I'm afraid the other kids won't like me because I'm younger than them"

"I'm sure that once they get to know you, they'll love to be around you"

"Really?"

"Of course, you're a bright little girl with a wonderful personality that no one could hate. But if you're that scared than just remember that big kids don't like it when little kids always bug them. Let them get to know you first" Her lips twisted into a smile

"Okay . . . are you going to thank Dar-lil?"

"Yes . . . yes I am"

. . .

I watched her slowly approach the kids, her hands held each other behind her back as she stopped barely a few steps away from the other kids. At first they didn't notice her presence but as Sophia's arm elevated back with the green tennis ball in her hands, she looked behind herself and saw Jaden. Her arm reached halfway before stopping, the ball didn't leave her hands.

Most Dogs by now would have board kids but Ike never failed to please. He was defiantly no other dog. Like for instance whenever he would sit and scratch his ear with his hind leg, a low moan of bliss would escape his throat. It always made me laugh.

Or sometimes when he likes to play he'll roll on the ground before lying on his back. After a few seconds he would start wiggling around while he was still on his back. Most times his tongue would be sticking out of his mouth in a weird fashion.

Any way the other children looked at her puzzled, before noticing the small child behind Sophia. I bit the bottom of my lip, hoping that I was right about the children being nice.

Jaden looked down at her feet; a scarlet blush appeared on the top of her cheeks. As she began to turn on the heel of her shoes, Sophia took a few more steps closer to her. Jaden stopped dead in her tracks, staring straight at her.

Sophia's arm outstretched holding the tennis ball out to Jaden, a small inviting smile played on Sophia's lips.

She slowly took the ball out of Sophia's hands and threw it as hard as she could, her body jumping slightly as the ball escaped her hand and flew out a good seven or eight feet. Ike happily ran after it, not caring how far it went.

Sophia then took a hold of Jaden's hand and ran with her and the other kids towards Ike who laid on his stomach as he chewed at the ball.

My fears of her not getting along vanished as she started to get used to them. When I was younger my brother used to hang out a lot with friends from boy scouts, sometimes we went with them on trips my favorite being the time we went to Hershey Park. My brother made me walk behind him and his friends with the other moms and dads who where there with their parents. It wasn't just because I was a girl because a lot of times they brought friends from school with them and some of them were girls.

If I tried to hang out with them or him he would tell me to shut up or would walk faster, trying to avoid me.

I tore my gaze away from Jaden and Sophia and looked over at Daryl once more. He hadn't changed what he was doing. I took a deep breath before getting up and striding over there.

Dale's binoculars caught sight of me, his eyes trained on me as continued walking across camp. I tried not to stare at him while he did this. I looked over at Andrea and Amy, they giggled with each other. They seemed to have a healthy sisterly relationship.

Amy waved slightly at me as her eyes meet mine, I repeated the action.

Before I knew it I was standing barely two feet away from him. It took him a second before he noticed I was there.

His eyes meet mine, I didn't notice till now that they were blue but he looked at me with a cold, uncaring stare. I flinched at his gaze, his nose wrinkled at me before grunting and looking away.

"What do ya want?" his tone matched his gaze.

"I-I just wanted to thank you for not . . . you know leaving me and my dog for the Zombies." He looked down back towards his cross bow.

"Eh, I didn't bother to save the dog he just followed"

"Thank you anyway though" he didn't respond, I didn't move though. Just kind of stood there awkwardly.

"Well, well, well, what da we have here" I breathed in through my nose while rolling my eyes at the same time, I turned to the right. Merle leaned against a tree while his eyes scanned my body. My eyes narrowed in disgust.

"Nothing I was just thanking him for helping me yesterday" a fake look of hurt crossed his face.

"Aren't cha gona thank me" my fists clenched at my sides

"Thank you" I mumbled before turning and walking away

"Whoa whoa whoa, where ya goin" within a few seconds he was barely a foot away from me, his hand reached out and grabbed my wrist. My cheeks flushed at the sudden unwanted contact. My other hand clenched in a fist

"Let go of me!" his grip didn't slacken as I started to pulled at my arm.

"Now that aint a very good thank you" My other hand tightened, the nails in my fingers digging into my skin so much that I could feel drops of blood run down my fingers.

"Fuck off, I aint like that"

"Come on" I don't believe that anything I could say could get him to back off so I drawled me free hand back getting ready to punch him in the gut.

"Merle just let the girl go" My eyes looked back over towards Daryl; his eyes stared directly into his brothers than back at me. He knew what I would be starting if I continued the action. For a few moments he hesitated

"Alright, alright" he let go of my arm, I took a few steps back.

"Don't touch me ever again" I took one look at Daryl, I mumbled a slight 'thanks' before turning away and walking back towards Amy and Andrea.

I looked over at the RV; Dale had seen the whole thing. Concerned crossed his face, I stopped in my tracks; I sighed in annoyance before I turned slightly and started walking over to Dale.

. . .

**"**Do you need some help?" Andrea looked up from the knee cut jeans she was folding. Collin stood in front of her. Although being fairly young he had a tall build and muscle body that made him look older than most thirty years old.

"With the Laundry?" he nodded, for a moment she stared at him. Her eyes looked him over trying to tell if he was joking. She noticed that he was serious. Her lips twisted into a bemused gin as she turned her head, she snorted at his offer.

"I thought that it was made clear that the women did the laundry while the men 'protected' them" Her voice was laced with sarcasm. She thought back bitterly to Shane's refusal to let her do more important jobs. He chuckled lightly at her statement.

"Yeah well I'm not doing anything and Katie would kill me if I believed in Gender roles" she hesitated before handing him a basket of clothes. He took a seat next to her on the log.

"Is Katie your girlfriend?"

"Oh no, were only friends. We have an unspoken rule in the group that we don't date each other." He smiled lightly, thinking about the numerous girlfriends and boyfriends they've had and none of them were each other.

"Just wondering, you all seem so close" He scoffed

"I guess you could say that but I could never think of dating Katie ore really any of them especially Kyle" he shivered at the thought, how Kyle got a girlfriend was one of the many mysterious of the universe.

"Why not, they all pretty girls?" he glanced towards her; his smile was larger than before.

"Katie's she's . . . like a Chihuahua. Usually she's nice and is a loyal friend but get her angry and she'll start yapping at you, get her real angry and she'll even nip at you." She chuckled slightly at the thought.

"What about Dinah, Paton, and Vanessa?" he shook his head

"No Paton's too much of a buddy; Vanessa's hair styles freak me out to much not to mention that she's not really my type. Dinah's more of kid to me. I prefer the stronger more well built girl, I mean not a body builder or anything but at least a girl who looks like she can take care of herself. As much as I love Katie I could never feel that way towards her, she's like my little sister even though she's only a year younger and we both were in the same classes back in school" he looked back at her again "What about you, are you dating Shane or Glen" She shook her head

"Nah, Glen's too much of a kid and Shane seems like he's into Lori too much"

"Good because there's something about him that I don't like, it would be best if you dated a nice guy who would treat you like a princess" She turned towards him, her eye brows raised in confusion.

"Katie's feminism is really having an effect on me." It was silent for a second before they started cackling loudly.

Andrea opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of a car pulling up from the dirt road. Collins eyes flashed to the driver's side, it was Glen.

Over at the RV Katie slowly walked away from Dale, her eye flashing with annoyance. Her head also turned at the sound of the car.

She slowly approached it as it came to a stop, T-Dog and Shane beat her to greeting Glen.

"Man, please tell that you got some MRE's I can't stand another day of nothing but Squirrels" Asked T-dog while Glen moved to the trunk of the car.

"There were only a few; most of the shops were cleared out. I did get some new clothes for the new guys"

"I hope you brought enough girls clothing" said Shane as he grabbed the bags of brow colored packages that she quickly recognized as MRE's. Her dad had been in the air force and worked as a technician in the Naval Academy. He liked to open some up on more than one occasion.

"Why?" Shane than pointed to Katie who stood barley a few feet behind him, He turned to look at her. She put on her best 'let's not kill each other anytime soon' smile that she could muster.

"Hi, I'm Katie Dawson are you Glen" her hand reached out to shake his, he complied.

"That would be me"

. . .

"Glenn thank you so, so, so, so, so, much!" Said Dinah, her face was lit up with happiness as she ate canned peaches. I rolled my eyes at her, she's been here barely two days and the food they've been serving is already getting to her.

Night had fallen an a hour ago and the only thing illuminating my surroundings was the small fire that we sat around while eating whatever cans and MRE's that Glenn brought back. Jaden had gone to bed in Dinah and Paton's tent earlier.

Everyone sat in silence, no one either wanted to speak or could think of nothing to speak of. When Glenn had come back he told us that supplies in the shops on the edge of Atlanta were either gone completely or had little to offer, he would need to start heading farther into the city. Shane had also said that supplies in camp were starting to run low too and that Glenn might need to take more people with him on his next run.

Of course as soon as he told us this, me, Vanessa, Collin, and Ryan knew exactly what was to happen. It was only a matter of time before they started setting up groups.

I looked up from the brown plastic bag that contained dehydrated strawberries. Vanessa sat across from me, at first I thought she was looking at the fire but when I saw her eyes flash to me than back down I noticed that she was looking at the bandage that wrapped around my leg, just below the knee. I had been wearing a pair of jeans before but I had switched them out to shorts earlier. The bandage at this point had dried blood showing through the paper.

"Your leg okay?" her voice was a whisper; her eyes didn't look up at my eyes.

"I'm fine" I said in mumble, my jaw clenched as she continued to give my leg a worried stare. I didn't want her to act like I was in a lot of pain in front of other people. Sure I was still in some pain and my ache ached a bit but it wasn't anything a little bit of sleep couldn't fix. She sighed as her right hand scratched her head.

"I'm just thinking of the scar it's going to leave" she said while glaring at the Dixons, who sat by the fire but farthest away than the others. Andrew chuckled and shook his head.

"It's still won't be as bad as the other one" My snapped over to him, my eyes narrowing in annoyed stare.

"What other scar" I hear Carl's voice speak up.

"Carl that isn't a nice thing to ask" Lori scolded

"It's okay, it happened when I was seventeen" I said while still glaring at Andrew, he grinned at me. Ryan elbowed him in the ribs, knowing that this was a touchy subject.

"You ever heard of the movie Jaw, kid?" asked Andrew, Carl slowly nodded his head. "One day we all get a call from a hospital down in Florida, Katie and her other friend Cassie had gone with some other school friends to a Cassie's mom's beach house. Apparently for the first time since her brother threw her off a pier, Katie had gone swimming and got bite by a four foot long shark"

"Whoa, a shark!" Carl's eyes lit up with fascination, I looked down at the ground. My hands shook with anger and fear as I remembered that day. A shark bit me . . . yeah right.

"Yep just for inches' below her thigh" My shorts where still long enough to keep that secret, I remember Florida all too well and to be honest I just wish I could forget, I wish it was a shark bite though.

"Andrew I think we should talk about something a little different" I looked up to see that Collin staring at me.

"What, it's boring and what better than story time"

"Ha, were practically being chased by cannibalistic freaks and you still find away to be bored." Said Kyle

"Sometimes I wonder if this whole thing is god's way of punishing us" I looked over at Jacqui, her eyes stared into the fire and her lips twisted into a frown. My aunt used to say that when things go wrong, laughter always makes it better.

"You're God is displeased with you, you must please him by sacrificing a virgin" My hands waved around my head in a crazy Jack sparrow fashion

"She's looking at you Glenn" cackled Andrew; everyone chuckled as Glenn looked down at the ground in embarrassment.

"Why don't you tell us a story Katie, You're really good at coming up with things on the spot" piped up Paton

"Do you write?" asked Carol, I noticed Ed glare at her as she spoke.

"Yeah, I got a degree in English and one in political science when I went to college. But since the worlds gone to hell I realize that I had wasted four years of my life. At least Vanessa was working on psychology which can still be used"

"Not entirely true, when we want to hear stories by the fire you can tell them." Said Kyle

"Yeah so why don't you tell the one you made up in English class back when we were in eighth grade, everyone thought it was great" my hands clenched the now empty bag, Andrew was my friend but sometimes I wish I could stitch his lips together . . . with no numbing medicine either.

"I don't wan-"

"It's either that or I talk about" Andrew hesitated "Tad"

**Not really any Daryl goodness but don't worry the next chapter will have a lot of it, we're also going to continue story time in the next chapter too.**


	5. hunting

**IMPORTANT: I CHANGED CHAPTER SIX A BIT CUZ I REALIZED SOMETHING **

**DIUC: Let's just say that something important that Katie's not telling comes out of that, [virtual squirrel with arrow for you]**

**Offer still stands everyone, REVIEW PLEASE.**

**Today where going to start building on a relationship between Katie and Daryl :}**

**TWDgirl16: Thank you so much, this won't be the only great moments.**

**Girl Who Lived and Loved: Thank you! I won't say when you'll learn about florida, but I will say that I won't make everyone wait for it to be revealed in season 3. Also thanks for adding us as favorite and following.**

**easyl0ve: And it only continues tonight!**

_Her dirty paws and furry coat,_

_She ran down the forest slope_

_The forest of talking trees, _

_They used to sing about the birds and the bees. _

_The bees had declared a war, _

_The sky wasn't big enough for them all._

_The birds, they got help from below, _

_From dirty paws and the creatures of snow._

_And for a while things were cold, _

_They were scared down in their holes. _

_The forest that once was green_

_Was colored black by those killing machines. _

_But she and her furry friends _

_Took down the queen bee and her men._

_And that's how the story goes, _

_The story of the beast with those four dirty paws._

_Dirty paws by Of monsters and Men_

I had finished my story an hour ago, it was short enough for me to remember most of the parts and too add on something's while I told it. I looked away from everybody when I was talking because my work honestly embarrassed me. I was really surprised when they actually liked it. My face lit up a bit when people who barely knew me and probably didn't care how I felt said they like it.

_"See Katie your stories are good, you shouldn't take Daniels critique to seriously"_ is what Dinah said. By this point the kids and some others went back to their tents.

They only ones left sitting around the fire where Me, Ryan, Vanessa, Collin, Andrea, Amy, Lori, Shane, and Daryl who seemed to not really care what we were saying as he used his knife to cut and sharpen sticks into arrows.

"What are we going to do when they go into Atlanta and come back with Rick?"Vanessa whispered into my ear as she looked at the others who sat across from us. She, Collin, and Ryan had moved closer to me when the topic of a possible run into Atlanta came up. I noticed that Shane's eyes moved between us and Lori, finding it strange that we were barely inches apart from each other.

"We'll tell the others that if they ask than they need to make up an excuse as to why they can't go, we can't have them messing up that part of the story line" I whispered back in a low voice that only Collin and Ryan were close enough to hear.

"What about us, we already know what's going to happen so should we go?" Collin looked over at Shane; his eyes were narrowed at us.

"If any of us want to we can go but the others aren't allowed"

"Do you want to go, Katie?" Collin asked

"I might, it would be funny to watch Merle get his ass beat by Rick all over again" I thought happily back to those moments.

"I might want to joi-"

"You know I never really asked where you all came from" said Shane, cutting off Ryan. Lori, Andrea, and Amy stalked talking to each other as they watched us exchange glances between each other. I hesitated, thinking up answer to why we were here in the first place.

"We lived in Maryland after we came back from college, when the outbreak hit we gathered as many living family and friends and headed south. One of our friends we going to get told us that Atlanta had a refugee center but by the time we got here it was overrun." I paused thinking up a reason for why the guys were in the woods. "A heard of them came through and separated Collin and the other guys from our group, Dinah and the other girls were driving a mile behind us when they saw them running away into the forest so they went after them. We agreed from the start that if any of us got lost and didn't find the rest within twenty four hours then they would leave us behind" We held our breath as we waited for a response.

"Where were they headed?" I heard Collin breathe a sigh of relief. Vanessa whispered a 'thank you' into my ear.

"They planned on going as far south as they could before getting some boats and sail down to an island, but we hadn't agreed on a specific destination." As soon as I said this, the sound of a twig snapping behind me had everyone standing up. Shane's hand held onto to the handle of his gun in his belt.

My heart raced as a small figure approached us, as It walked into the glow of the fire I realized it was just Jaden. I looked behind myself for a second to see that Shane hand had moved from the gun and the other's sat back down, there body's relaxing in relief.

"Sweetie is there something wrong?" asked Lori who started to approach the child. I noticed that her arms hugged a blanket to her body, the color drained from my face when I saw her face was red and puffy from crying.

"I . . . I had ah night-mear" she said while looking down at her feet. I hated to see her so unhappy, Nightmares for her were rare.

"Do you wa-" Before Lori could finish her sentence, Jaden started to run towards me while tears came streaming down her face. I bent down and picked her up and held her against me while rocking back and forth on my feet. She cried silently into my shirt.

"I'm gona take her back to bed" Collin nodded his head as I turned back around and headed for the tent were where sharing with Dinah and Paton.

"Did you tell Dinah and Paton about having a nightmare?" I asked, she shook her head which was buried into the top of my chest.

"No, I only wanted you" We walked in silence back to the tent, Dinah and Paton where asleep on the others side of the tent. I knew that they were heavy sleepers so they wouldn't wake up.

_"_Kaden where's mommy, is she still working?" she asked while I tucked her into her sleeping bag. Dinah shuffled in her sleep from across the tent. She had told me that she had a dream about the monster she had encountered with Dinah and Paton on the first day she was here.

"I don't know, right now where somewhere else and I don't know how to get to her" tears formed in the corner of her eyes, how could you explain to a little girl what type of hell this was.

"I want to go home, I want my mommy" her arms clutched onto my waist as I felt her cry into my shirt.

"I don't know how sweetheart, I don't even know if we'll ever leave but you know what" I took her chin in my hand and raised her head to look into my eyes.

"I'm going to protect you every day; I will not let any of those monsters get you. Your mommy would want you to stay safe and would want me to take care of you and the others. As long as I stand nothing will hurt you" She wiped the tears from her eyes, sniffling as I rocked her gently back and forth.

"Pinky promise" she held her fist out to me with her pinky sticking out. I entwined mine with hers.

"I promise" I kissed the top of her head before she snuggled into her blankets and fell asleep.

. . .

My eyes cracked open at the feeling of the sun shining down on my face. I sat up from my sleeping bag as I scratched at my head. At least in my little shoe box apartment I could shower and eat whatever I wanted for breakfast.

My eyes scanned the tent, Dinah , Paton, and Jaden had already left. Judging by how light it was outside would say that It was around noon. I grabbed a pair of jean shorts and a green tank top from the corner of the room where we kept the small amount of clothes we had.

I had fallen asleep in the same clothes from yesterday which by now where grimy from sweat and dirt.

I walked out from the tent, everybody walked around doing some kind of chore as I stood there staring at everything. Even Lori, the camp wife was being more useful than I was right now. I had to think of something to help out with. I knew if I asked Shane than he would probably have me do something as stupid and useless as washing clothes.

I knew that I could do something of importance, my dad had shown me how to handle guns when I was younger and Daniels girlfriend Kerstin had taken me hunting before and shown me how to gut animals like Deer and squirrels. She knew that Daniel didn't really care about me so she always liked to take me out with her and treat me like a sister since she would soon become my sister in law.

I spotted Ike lying on the ground in the shadow of a tree, the kids including Jaden were being tutored by Lori and Carol.

I whistled at him, his head looked up at me. I signaled with my hands to follow me. Within a second he was by my feet, his tail wagging in excitement.

"So boy what are we gona do today." I said as we walked side by side, Dale was on watch again and everybody else looked like they were doing something of importance. Over in the corner of my eye I saw Daryl walking towards the forest with his cross bow in hand.

"Come on boy" I ran over to him as he got ready to disappear into the trees.

"Hey Daryl!" he stopped in his tracks as we stood a few feet away, he turned to face us. His eyes flickered in annoyance as he looked at me and Ike.

"Where ya goin?" my smile didn't falter as he scowled at us.

"Huntin" he replied simply, he began to turn around again.

"wait!"

"Whatya want" his tone was harsh, part of me wanted to turn around and go over and talk with Dinah and Paton but the idea made Daniels voice echoed in the back of my head _typical baby sister, always talking of be more than you really are when you no better than Lori or Carol when it comes to the camps importance._

"Can me and Ike come, he's a golden retriever and there good at a number of things including hunting" he grunted as he turned around and began walking away.

"No, ya'll just scare them away" I walked closer to him, not backing down.

"Please, I've got nothing to do and I don't want to do the stupid useless stuff Lori and Carol do and I won't scare them away, I've been hunting before and I even know to skin them. I won't even talk if you don't want me too" I looked at him as he opened his mouth to probably tell me to fuck off "If you take me than I won't bother you ever again" he closed it and stood there for a moment, contemplating my offer.

"Fine but ya better not scare any more squirrels" he turned back around and motioned for us to follow. I looked down at Ike with a cocky smile before pumping my fist up in the air in triumph and then running after Daryl.

. . .

I had been in the forest with Daryl for twenty minutes and I already noticed that nothing would make him happier in the world than for me to fall off a cliff and into a hole filled with zombies and I had barely talked to him this entire time.

Hell he seemed to like Ike more than me. The truth is that I had never taken Ike hunting; I just read that they were bread for that when I got him. I was too afraid of me or Kirsten shooting him with our rifles if he got in the way.

Turns out that he was really good with retrieving and being obedient towards us. I think I even saw Daryl pat his head once when he brought back a squirrel he had shot with the arrow still intact. I felt stupid that I did nothing while my dog did more than me.

I couldn't hunt with him since I didn't even have a pellet gun to shoot with and I'm sure as hell knew that Daryl wouldn't of let me use his cross bow.

"Where d'ya find em'" my face lifted up from looking at ground to see that he was facing me, Ike ran over to a fallen squirrel.

"Kyle and Andrew surprised me on my twentieth birthday, they and Dinah drove all the way to from the university of Maryland to the Hamilton college in new York. I was sharing an apartment with a friend of mine going to a music college close by when I woke up one day to find a puppy on top of me and licking at my face. I of course freaked out and fell off the bed while at the same time Andrew took pictures of me tangled in the sheets with Ike licking at my face. Jerk put them on MySpace later." Ike came trotting back to us, the squirrel hanging from its tail which was in Ike's mouth.

I stopped as I heard Ike growling at the trees.

"What's wrong buddy?" he didn't stop growling, the squirrel in his mouth dropped to the ground by Daryl's feet.

"Probably see's ah deer or maybe somebody cat that ran into the woods when this shit happened" he started walking in the direction of Ike's barks.

"I'm not eating any cat's Daryl" I said, not moving from my spot.

"Maybe Glenn would like some" he turned around grinning at me for the first time.

"He's Korean; they don't traditionally eat cat meat"

He didn't respond, the next thing I knew he had disappeared into the trees. I watched as Ike continued to growl in the direction Daryl went. Within a second his voice died down in his throats and began running the other way.

"Wait Ike" I started jogging towards him, looking back. I hope I wasn't going to get lost. "IKE STOP" he did as he commanded his head turned towards me. He ran behind me, whimpering at the large bushes in front of us.

"What's gotten into you" my breath hitched in my throat as the leaves in the bush began to move. I backed up with Ike staying right behind me. My nose cringed at the smell of something that reminded me of road kill, rotten eggs, and the after party of a frat initiation.

"Ahh!" I screamed at the sight of a zombie emerging from the bushes. His stomach and chest region had been eaten into and one of his eyes dangled from its socket. He had defiantly been rotting for awhile; you could barely tell that he had once been human. If it wasn't for all the horror movies I had watched with Daniel and my dad I would have vomited up all of last's night dinner.

"Go get Daryl" I pointed behind us as the zombie started to walk fast towards us. He hesitated before running off, barking loud.

I reached at my sides, my eyes widened and my heart raced as I realized that I was unarmed. I backed up as its arm reached out for me. The next thing I knew was that I was falling on my back with its head barely being pushed away from my neck. One of its arms latched onto my hair while the other one held onto my shoulder, trying to pull me closer to it.

My left hand reached out next to me, desperately trying to find something to fight back with. I felt my hand come in contact with something hard. I glanced over to a medium sized rock.

With all the strength I could muster up, I pushed it on its back. The rock in its left hand came crashing down its forehead repeatedly. I felt the grip on my hair and arms slacken as its skull turned into a mush of brains and bone.

I breathed heavily on top of it.

"Ahhhhh" I screamed as I felt hands pull me up. I raised the rock in my hand before dropping it onto the ground. Daryl had come back with Ike at his side.

"Wha tha hell happened!" he looked at me with anger as his hands gripped my shoulders. I thought I saw concern flash in his eyes but I shook the thought off.

"I ran after Ike, there was a zombie but I didn't have a weapon so I used a rock" he looked back and forth between me and the dead zombie.

"Ya bit" I shook my head no.

He let go of me while reaching for something on his belt. I rubbed at my head before I saw Daryl hold out a hunting knife in front of me. I looked at it for a moment before reluctantly taking it from his hands.

"Keep it" he mumbled as we continued down the forest.

. . .

"Fuckin' stupid of ya, runnin after em' like tha." I rolled my eyes at him as we ventured on further into the forest. I wiped the blood off my body and shirt with a rag. The last thing I needed was to go back to camp and have Collin and Dinah make a big fuss. I paused from walking, that he was doing double takes between the direction we were headed and me.

I crossed my arms against my chest, he didn't let up. "What's up with you?" my tone was low and close to an annoyed growl.

His head immediately turned away from me, his neck was stiff not wanting me to catch him looking at me again. "Nothin,' just thought you'd be shaking or scared after tha." Are you kidding me? An amused expression played on my open mouth, my hands dropping to their sides in disbelief.

I hesitated before shaking my head, snorting at the idea. "No use crying over dead zombies. It was just one, not the whole freaking population of New York." My mind wondered to how those places. Los Angles, Chicago, and New York have got to be like the definition of hell right now, "Besides if I was weak then Daniel would be right."

"Daniel?" I hadn't noticed that he had stopped until I smacked into his back. I wobbled on my heels before he turned around, his hand catching my wrists before I fell on my ass. I wasn't clumsy, despite getting shot in the leg, falling out of a tree, tripping over branch's and almost getting killed by a walker, and . . . falling down the stairs. My head turned limply towards the trees, my jaw gritted into my teeth as I thought about… that. The scene seemed to blur while I started to drift off into my thoughts, about Florida.

"Ya alrigh' there?" He kept a firm tight hold on me, a bit of annoyance flashed in his eyes.

I blinked twice before looking back up at him. "Ya, just got me thinking about… stuff." I let go of him as soon as my feet were firmly planted on the ground. His eyebrow raised in confusion as I took a few steps away from him, my facial expression had drastically changed.

"Still didn't answer ma question," he said while turning back around, not facing me as he continued on.

"He's my brother, we don't exactly get along. There's a five year age difference and where about the exact opposite of each other." I followed him.

"He dead?" he said it simply with little interest or sympathy unlike most people who would even be afraid to ask the question.

"No, he's just somewhere else at the moment." I breathed a jagged breath through my teeth thinking about how he and everybody else where living their normal lives with TV, computers, warm beds, and showers.

"Ya don't seem ta like 'im, he beat up on ya or somethin'" I scratched at my head with one hand while the other rubbed at the collar of my neck, I felt slightly embarrassed that I had made this thing sound worse than it was.

"No not like that, He-he's very logical when it comes to thinking. I mean I'm smart and all, but I chose to excel in music, writing, and any form of creative thing other than actual visual arts. He liked science and math, got a degree in bioengineering. It's funny the only form of art I don't like is paintings and he ends up liking them and the only intellectual thing I like is politics and he hates that."

"Ain't a reason to hate 'im?" He said coldly, quickening his pace away from me.

"Oh, it's not that, that's just one percent. All my life I just wanted him treat me like an equal, like the things I say I are worth listening to. My parents used to say that once I got older he would start to like me better but," I hesitated, I slightly groaned when I thought about how I'm standing here complaining about my brother when Merle sure as hell is no picnic. "You know, let's not talk about him. He isn't around anymore."

"You gonna look for 'im?" I pursed my lips into a fine line, contemplating the idea of trying to go home with my friends. Sure I enjoyed having him and the others with me, any fan of TWD would, but Jaden and my friends were here. Some of them couldn't survive here and despite what it seems I'm not talking about all the girls. I'm talking about Dinah, Ryan, and Paton;, the others would do fine.

"Nope, he can take care of himself and so can everybody else. I need to stay here with you guys and protect my friends and Jaden. " I stopped walking, this time he turned around and stopped with me. "I couldn't live with myself if I hurt her , I promised her that I wouldn't let the monsters get to her and I'im not one for breaking promises." We stood there looking at each other, no apparent emotions showed on his face.

The sound of an old tree limb above us was being pushed down like a trampoline by a small weight had him and melooking above us. Another squirrel had jumped onto the branch above us; he nibbled on what looked to be a tree nut of some sort. I half smiled before pressing a hand to my mouth, suppressing a giggle.

When my dad and I saw a squirrel crossing a road, avoiding cars we would always call it a 'suicide squirrel' because it was like it wanted to die right there. This squirrel was just as dead as those ones… actually some of them made it; he's_ definitely_ going to die.

"Don't you have something to hunt with? , Yyou came with me to help and all you've done is complain about your brother," he said with a grunt, raising the cross bow towards the seemingly deaf squirrel. I opened my mouth to retaliate, but I had no answer seeing as he was right. I closed it again and then crossed my arms in a pout.

While he lined up the shot I looked down at the knife in-between my belt and shorts, I took me a moment to remember what I could do with it. A big toothy smile crossed my face while I silently squealed with joy.

I looked up once before reaching for it, before Daryl could even pull the trigger I had swiftly thrown it up in the air. I whooshed past his face before landing straight into the little things stomach. If Dinah was here than she would have with watery puppy eyes and would put her hands against the top of her chest in pity.

I glanced at him while Ike happily ran towards my kill. Daryl's cross bow hung at his side, his eyes glared at me while I picked up the dead animal hanging from Ike's mouth and strapped it to my belt.

Sure he had more but at least I proved to him that I wasn't an annoyance. I skipped over to where it fell; the knife had fallen out upon impact.

I turned back towards him, now he was the one with his arms crossed against his chest in annoyance. "I used to throw knives at dart boards with Collin and Ryan awhile back. Besides, you were saying that all I did was complain about Daniel so I figured I might as well show that I have some uses."

He stared for a moment. "We've got 'nough for now, best we be gettin' back."

. . .

By the time we came back it was close to six, most of today's work had been finished and I didn't have to join the 'laundry circle' of camp wives and chore girls. I began to walk towards Kyle and Collin who motioned me to come closer.

I took three steps near them before a hand gripped my shoulder, I twisted around to see that Daryl had yet to go back to him and his brother's solitude.

"What?" He started pulling me with him.

"You said ya could skin squirrels?"

"Yeah?" I didn't move from my spot.

"Well, aren't ya gonna help?" I paused for a moment, still a bit surprised by his answer. I gave a light smile before following after.


	6. friendly conversations

**Katie Loom: I'm glad you like it so far, thanks for following and adding it as a favorite. **

**OnlyHalfEvil333: thanks for following **

**READ, REVIEW, FOLLOW, AND FAV**

**Sorry for the lack of updating but I've been busy with my life.**

**Pinkiceangelbaby:**** Thanks for adding us as a favorite**

__**Stop me on the corner  
I swear you hit me like a vision  
I, I, I wasn't expecting  
But who am I to tell fate where it's supposed to go with it  
Don't you blink you might miss it  
See we got a right to just love it or leave it  
You find it and keep it  
Cause it ain't every day you get the chance to say**

Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart  
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun  
Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky

**Shining how we want, brighter than the sun**

**Brighter than the sun-Colbie Caillat**  
Dinah's left hand outstretched to her forehead, rubbing at the salty sweat as her other hand's nails lightly dug into the wood of the log she was sitting on. Kyle poked at Paton's sides trying to get her attention as she skimmed Katie's Jane Eyre novel, occasionally swatting at his hand.

Dinah remembered back to going with Katie and a few friends to the mall for Paton's twelfth birthday. Katie, however, was the oldest, being fourteen at the time, knowing Dinah and Paton from Girl Scouts and not school. Everyone but Katie walked around for hours with bags filled with different colored clothes and accessories.

By the time they stopped to eat at the food court all Katie had were two bags from two different stores. One being a single small bag that contained just a black graphic t-shirt and the other one being a Barnes and Noble bag with the very same Jane Eyre novel and the_ Scarlet Letter _despite one of the chaperoning moms saying that the book was a bore.

Dinah chuckled lightly; Katie had stopped using purses when she was thirteen when she had gotten a pair of boots as a Christmas present, from there on out almost every second her foot was clad in those boots that could store her wallet and Mp3 player. She never needed to carry a purse with those shoes.

Now the book had faintly bent pages where Katie doggy eared them, the cover had white spots where the pictures and words had faded into 'ane re B Charl Br te.'

Dinah looked over to Paton with her eyebrows furrowed together trying to decipher the text.

"Is the text that worn out?" Her eyes didn't move from the page.

"No, it's just… I can't believe Katie likes this stuff. I can't get through a sentence without having to think for long periods of time." She scowled at the page she was on before slamming the book back into Katie's bag.

"Speaking of Katie, where is she?" asked Kyle, his pointer finger resting on the small of Paton's back as he looked around the camp.

Collin was back over with Andrea, helping with whatever chores she was forced to do; Dinah and Paton gossiped with Amy about the two yesterday at breakfast. Vanessa, Andrew, and Ryan somehow made a game out of a rock, a stick, and a piece of yarn. Twenty minutes ago the game had gotten fierce and ended up giving Glenn a bad bruise on his forehead. But Katie was not in his line of vision.

"Back where she was yesterday and the day before that," answered Paton, a smile playing on her lips. The first day they had seen her skinning squirrels with Daryl in the Dixon's secluded part of the camp, Ike by their feet sitting attentively.

The next day before dinner Daryl was talking to _her_ while she cooked her and her friends' dinner, much to everyone's surprise.

"I didn't think a hard ass like Daryl could stand being near a girl like Katie, I mean he's like" Kyle paused. "Cruel and hard to get along with and Katie is . . . well Katie"

. . .

Three days earlier . . .

Her hands unlike Daryl's were slow as the knife edged into the little creatures soft fur, of course she had done this before but not as much as Daryl.

For a moment they worked in silence in till a small snicker escaped Katie lips, Daryl looked up at her, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Wha's so funny" her eyes meet his

"I'm just thinking about a show I used to watch with my brother when I was younger; it was called _happy tree friends_. He knew that I always hated the dumb learning shows they put on channels like Nick Jr. You know the ones where they taught numbers and words to little kids and used corny jokes, well happy tree friends were about cute little animals getting killed in horrific bloody ways." she mentally smacked herself when he didn't seem to stop staring at her, the last thing she wanted was for him to treat her like the kids from middle school did, like a weirdo. "Sorry if that sounded a little" I paused "_Deranged" _

Awkward silence passed over them as they continued to stare at each other. He grunted before looking back down at his work making her do so as well. "Aint many sane things' left" she thought for a moment, wondering if he meant that as bad thing or good thing.

Then she remembered that it was Daryl and _everything _he said was a bad thing. "Are you saying that I'm weird" Her knife jabbed into the wood next to the half open carcass of her only catch, He glanced up at her, she had her arms crossed against her chest.

"Wasn't saying tha'" His tone laced with a mixture of annoyance and anger, she noticed the slightly change in pressure with his cut.

"Well sorry than it just seemed as though" she trailed off; his eyes looked up at her an intimidating glare.

"Go on" His voice was harsh.

"Well you just sound as though you would be the type of person who would insult a person rather than . . . sort of 'compliment' one" she sank into her seat with each word, trying to avoid the looks he was giving her.

She bit at the inside of her mouth, lightly peeling the skin near her lips as she waited for a harsh response. "You're right" he paused, her eyebrows rising at his response. "You are weird" She couldn't help but laugh at him, being called weird by him didn't seem to hurt as much as it used to.

**Sorry if it was short, I was having trouble with this chapter. This conversation\flashback will continue on to the next chapter and maybe the one after that . . . MAYBE.**

**REMEMBER REVIEWS WILL MAKE THE NEXT CHAPTER COME FASTER.**


	7. protect

**DIUC: I was a little afraid people might of thought he was being OOC, I'm glad you think so. **

**Arrialee: I hope you enjoy the rest of it, by the way cool penname. Thanks for adding the story as a favorite**

**Special thanks to- , Sdxdoll, ICELENE714, and anyone else who followed the story. I was gone for awhile so I'm not quite sure.**

**IMPORTANT -I was on vacation so I couldn't really update. I decided that I will update the next chapter when I have either three new reviews or five follows\favs. **

_Dry lightning cracks across the skies__  
__Those storm clouds gather in her eyes_  
_Her daddy was a mean old mister_  
_Mama was an angel in the ground_  
_The weather man called for a twister_  
_She prayed blow it down_

_There's not enough rain in Oklahoma  
To wash the sins out of that house  
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma  
To rip the nails out of the past_

_Blown away-Carrie Underwood_

**. . .**

"What's she doing around _him_?" Asked Andrea, the book in her hands dropped to her lap. Collin looked up from the half carved piece of wood he had been tentatively working on for the past hour, only taking notice in Andrea and occasionally one of his friends.

"What?" His eyes looked in the same direction as her gaze, after a few seconds he caught the figures of Katie and Daryl over in the very edge of the camp.

"What sane person would want to be around either of the Dixons on their own will?" He was thinking the same thing, if anyone at all would be around Daryl it would be someone who was . . . more quiet, less stubborn, and less easily offended.

His gaze dropped back to his work, shaking his head with a barely noticeable smirk. "Katie's the type of person who can make friends with the most unlikely of people. Like back when we were in sixth grade, no one believed that Katie the little serious, anti-social, feminist could ever be friends with Kyle and Andrew the not so serious goofballs. Trust me they used to be much worse. But they still ended up liking each other" Out of the corner of his eye he saw her bring the book she was holding back towards her face, occasionally glancing between Collin and Katie.

"Daryl just doesn't seem like the friendly type"

He snorted "She used to be like that too, didn't like being close to people and pushed them away when they did. Eventually she found out what she wanted in life." She titled her head to the side, staring him in the eye.

"What was that?"

"To be happy, just like everyone else in the world" he stopped, thinking about how things turned out "or at least how everyone else used to be"

She looked back down towards her shoes; dirt covered most of it making them as faded as Katie's favorite books. "I'm not quite sure what I want in life anymore" he noticed her lips were pressed together in a slight grimace. "I think it might be" she paused, his face kept an emotional stare. "To protect Amy" his eyes darted towards Amy, Ryan's words echoed in his head _we can't change the plot line no matter what, not even to save someone's life. _His hands clenched into fists, the knuckles turning white as the dyed part of Katie's hair.

"That isn't just the main reason to stay alive" he said through his teeth, she looked back up towards him. "It's also to keep the memories of a life once perfect going, to return the world back to its original state for every life lost in the darkness, as they say it's always darkest before the dawn."

"Yeah it is but" he bit the inside of his mouth as she looked him straight in the eyes. "It's going to be a very long night"

. . .

"I guess we're done here" I said while picking up the bloody knife from the wood I was using to skin our catch. He grunted in response, not even bothering to look up at me let alone say thank you. "By the way thanks for letting me come with you today" I looked down at the ground. "I'll stay out of your hair for now on "I turned slightly on my heel getting ready to head over towards Dinah and Amy.

"Hey" I stopped at Daryl's voice; I looked behind me to see that he was now looking up at me. "Next time ya go out of the camp, you best remember to bring a weapon. Same goes for Huntin'" For a moment I stared at him, wondering if that meant that he wanted me to come along with him when he did go out again or something else.

Finally I decided to just walk away seeing as it didn't matter either way "Ike ya coming, boy" I noticed that he seemed pretty happy just lying on his side, the sun shining on his fur. I looked back towards Daryl when he didn't move. "Is it okay if he stays here?"

"Don't matter to me" I smirked lightly before turning around again.

"Oh and Daryl" I couldn't tell if he was paying attention or not "I better not find him in tonight's meal" As I walked away I swear I could hear him chuckled or something, much to my surprise, Maybe the heats getting to my brain.

As I walked over towards them I passed by the kids and Lori, I stopped in my tracks when I noticed that Jaden was not with them. "Hey Lori" she stopped looking over Carl's shoulder and stared towards me. "Have you seen Jaden?" she stepped away from the children and approached me.

"I thought I saw her with Vanessa a second ago." I looked over my shoulder, Vanessa was sitting by Ryan but there was no child with them. My eyes quickly scanned the camp but there was no sign of her.

"Shit, she's playing hide and seek again. She likes to play that game because she thinks it's funny how I get so worked up when I can't see her." Before Lori could say anything I had already began to walk the perimeter of the camp, looking at any place she could easily hide.

"Jaden sweetheart this isn't funny, now really isn't the time to play these kinds of games" A bit annoyance was laced with my voice; I stomped through the dirt and tried counting to ten in French so I could calm down. I knew that if she say me angry than she would be too afraid to want to come out from wherever she was.

"What the fuck did Ah say" I stopped in my tracks, by this time I was pretty far out and away from most people. I squinted in the direction of the angry voice I heard. In the forest I could make out the figures of Carol and Ed.

"I'm sorry it won't happen again" She took a step back away from him, he was defiantly fuming and a part of me says it's about something insignificant. My blood started to boil at the sight of his hands, they were bawled up into menacing fists.

"It better fucking not" I jumped slightly when his hand collided with her face. She fell to the ground, one hand held her cheek while the other one tried to wipe away the tears in her eyes. I was frozen to my spot in disbelief and anger.

"Fuckin' worthless" He gave her good kick to the ribs, not enough to break them but enough to bruise them. _Fucking worthless tease, I'm gona beat your little ass for that little mistake._ I snapped out of my thoughts within a second. A vein in my head twitched like an anime characters. I immediately felt my legs again and started to stomp towards them

Both of them turned towards me, Ed's eyes narrowed while Carols were wide with horror.

"What the fuck are ya doin ou-"

I cut him off. "No you listen to me" I stood two feet away from him leaning forward making it look like I was ready to jump of necessary. "If I ever see you do that again I will BEAT THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF YOU" My index fingered poked him in the chest while the other hand was bawled into a fist.

I felt a gentle touch of a hand come in contact with my shoulder; I looked over at Carol who was half kneeling in front of me. "Please Katie, it was my fault please don't get involved" he voice was cracked and hoarse.

_I'm sorry, please don't hurt me. Please it was my fault I'm sorry. _I inhaled deeply getting ready to unleash hell.

"Kaden?" All three of us looked towards Jaden who was stepping into the forest, looking confused at the sight in front of her.

"Carol why don't you go check on Sophia" Her head turned towards Ed, whose expression hadn't changed one bit. She hesitated before walking in the direction of the camps kids. Luckily for me as she limped away Paton walked up behind Jaden, her eye brow raised in confusion.

"Uh Katie" she paused, also confused "Dinah and the others were wondering where you went"

"I'll be there in a sec" I looked back over towards Ed. "Don't you EVER do that again" I snarled, finally walking away leaving him glaring at me with an intense look.

**Looks like Katie going to have a problem with Ed in the future. **


	8. Giving up

**I really wanted to update despite only getting one review. Anyway READ, REVIEW, FAVORITE, AND FOLLOW.**

**TWDgirl16: Don't worry there will defiantly be some ass kicking coming from Katie**

**READ, REVIEW, FAV, AND FOLLOW or the governor will find you and so will zombie Merle:] **

_You wake up late for school, man, you don't wanna go_  
_You ask you mom, "Please?", but she still says, "No"_  
_You missed two classes and no homework_  
_But your teacher preaches class like you're some kind of jerk_

_You gotta fight for your right to party_

_You pop caught you smoking, and he said, "No way!"_  
_That hypocrite smokes two packs a day_  
_Man, living at home is such a drag_  
_Now your mom threw away your best porno mag_  
_(Busted)_

_You gotta fight for your right to party_  
_Fight for your right- Beastie boys_

. . .

"GET UP; KATIE DALE SAYS IT'S TWELVE THIRTY!"A few small tears rolled down my face as I felt the dull aching pain in my head drastically change to something similar to the feeling of a large sledgehammer connecting with my brain. My hand reached out above my head, trying to grab at my pillow only to find that Dinah and Vanessa had already taken it before I could wake up . . . Damn it, they're learning.

But not fast enough, my hands finally came in contact with Jaden's pillow. I slammed it down on my head within half a second before they could yell again. "FIVE MINUTES" My voice was hoarse and cracked from all the yelling I was doing at Andrew last night. I think it had to do something with a pair of ripped jeans, white hair dye, blue raspberry jolly ranchers, and a bottle of alcohol it might have been rum I think. Since my head's throbbing like a bitch something tells me I drank that bottle . . . or was hit over the head with it.

The sound of tents zipper making that annoying screeching sound only made me clasp the pillow harder to my head. It wasn't just because of the headache but also because I knew they we're going to try and take it away.

"You said Five minutes _five _times already and that's not counting the extra ten minutes we threw in" I turned my head ever so slightly to look up towards not one but all three of my female friends and Andrew.

"Why do you even bother giving me a wake up time, you all know that I have never gotten up anywhere near those tim-OHF!" Before I could finish my sentence, Vanessa delivered a sharp kick to the area just above my stomach but also below my ribs.

"I would kick you in the head but I'm guessing it's still tender from Kyle hitting you upside the head with a two by four."

My arms turned me over on my stomach, I dismissed the feeling of something hard hurting my chest, I should probably try to get up soon or they'd probably stay and watch my dress if I didn't show any signs of getting out of this tent within the next month. "Wait so I didn't get hit with the bottle. I'm not quite sure on what happened last night, things are a little fuzzy."

"I should probably go for this story" With that said both Andrew and Paton left the tent, probably to go warn Kyle that I'm going to stick a two by four up his ass . . . than smash a glass bottle on his head.

"What happened" I said using my serious voice noticing Dinah scratch at the back of her head

"Weeellllll" she hesitated

"Get on with it or I'll hit _you_ with wood" I snarled

Sighing, both of them crouched down to my level on the floor. "Okay Ryan and Collin found a full bottle of alcohol in one of the bags Glenn Brought back and needless to say you and the boys were on that bottle faster than the speed of light. At first you agreed to share it after diner and once the kids went to bed. By that time you all made a small fire away from the others but when Collin started opening it Andrew came out of our tent with your secret Candy stash"

"What! WHAT!"

"Katie calm down, you sound like that mother who was talking on the phone with Ralphs mom in that movie _a Christmas story_. Besides you should share some of it" Said Vanessa

"B-But that's all I have" okay it was a huge zip lock bag full of jolly ranchers, Hershey bars, gum, snickers, and anything under the sun.

"Giving us a little candy wo-" I cut her off

"If you take my candy then I'm going to do drugs"

"Okay than, any way you got pissed off and then pushed came to shove and the next thing we knew, you where riding Kyle's back while he kept ramming you into a tree while at the same time eating you're blue jolly ranchers." I gasped, t-those where my FAVORITE. "You guys started yelling till the others started noticing it and the last thing they wanted was for you and Kyle to summon half the country to our camp then it was like watching mimes try and kill each other then Andrew went back to our tent and took your hair dye and held it hostage till you agreed to share."

"That bastard, without my candy I'll go insane and without my hair dye how the hell am I going to keep a strip of my hair snowy white like the icing on a red velvet cupcake."Okay when I decided to do that to my hair I had planned to dye the rest of my hair red so it fully resembled a red velvet cupcake. I however chickened out at the last minute and could only do the white frosting part. What can I say I love being a brunette.

"Katie you do understand Glenn could have gotten more candy and hair dye. Any way you being you didn't back down and started chasing after Kyle and Andrew till they dropped the dye and candy, they came back after you put it away thinking you weren't going to continue this. So immediately after coming out of the tent you jumped on Andrew this time and ended up ripping his jeans up with a sharp stick while he grabbed at your hair. Now this is where it REALLY gets weird, you decide that since we ate some of your candy already that you deserved ALL the alcohol so you took it from Collin before any of the boys could get a sip. The next thing I know is you and them hitting each other with random sticks, then you snuck behind a tree and started drinking some of it during the confusion. After Kyle saw the bottle in your hands he hit you with a huge piece of wood."

Vanessa continued "It was pretty bad seeing as both Collin and Ryan had to restrain you from screaming. When they saw you starting bled from it Kyle got really upset with himself and started apologizing and then you got upset over being selfish and you started apologizing to him and then the boys started drinking the rest and then everyone starts crying and hugging and junk, it was really strange to say the least."

"So you're telling me I not only have a hangover but I also have a small concussion?"

"Yep, you even went to bed with the bottle its nestled in-between your boobs." My arms pushed me a couple inches off the ground. There it was, part of it was sticking out and showing

"Huh, I thought I felt something hard "they started laughing at me till I noticed something and gasped. "OMG there's like an inch and a half still left in the bottle

"Katie?"

"Yeah"

"I would enroll you in alcoholics anonymous if the world hadn't gone to hell"

. . .

"I wanted to ask y'all about what was going on last night" Dinah froze as she heard Shane talking to Kyle and the other boys who sat around the small campfire, she noticed Collin keeping a hard stare at the meat cooking in the pan and Ryan with his face buried in his hands. Scratch marks covered Kyle's neck and arms. Andrew however looked paler than he usually did.

"Uh" They all answered, most of them not wanting to look him straight in the eyes as he stood over them.

"What do you mean?" Dinah squeaked out

"Andrea and Amy said they heard a few shouts coming from your direction last night" Dinah glanced over towards to other camp-goers, everyone else including her and Paton had already eaten and began doing work hours ago unlike Katie and the other boys who she also had to drag out of their tents. Occasionally one of the others would stare towards Kyle and the boys and whisper something to each other.

"You gona charge us with a noise complaint" said Andrew, titling his head towards Shane and using his left hand to block the sun out of his eyes.

"What he means to say is that we're very sorry about last night and it won't happen again _right _boys" She hissed the last part through her teeth. A round of mumbled yes escaped their lips upon noticing how serious she actually was.

"Just out of curiosity what were you doing so far away from everybody else" Dinah tugged at the collar of her shirt that stuck to her neck with sweat.

"Uh we were" she hesitated, looking away from his hard stare like the other boys. "Just being 'us'" she awkwardly laughed.

" . . . That's code for we were drinking and hitting each other" said Andrew, Shane looked from him to her, his face more hard and serious than before.

"Is that true?" Dinah hesitated again before opening her mouth to speak.

"Yeah but it wasn't her fault, she and Paton didn't do any of that crap, Vanessa did a little though." Everyone's head snapped towards Katie who stood behind Dinah in front of the tent flap. Her hair was disheveled and a bit dirty she didn't even bother to change out of last night's clothes yet. One thing that stood out was the white bandage wrapped around her head, a little bit of blood showed through on the left side of her temple. "Those girls are too smart to do the type of idiotic crap we were doing"

"Where did you get that" Shane said quite harshly, pointing towards the three quarters empty bottle dangling in her hands.

"Ryan and Collin said they found it in one of the bags Glen brought with him when they went looking for some duck tape." The sound of leaves crinkling behind her had her attention turned towards Glenn and T-dog who she hadn't noticed towards now.

"What, awe I was saving it for a special occasion seeing as the camps been Walker free so far." His voice was laced with disappointment and a little bit of annoyance.

Katie immediately looked down at her feet, feeling a bit ashamed for her actions "Sorry Glenn, Collin and Ryan didn't tell me you were saving it" she glared at them.

"Hey we didn't know either"

Glenn turned back around, heading in the direction of Carol, Lori and the other kids. "It's okay I shouldn't of brought it in the first place, worlds gone to hell and we shouldn't be drinking" She stared at him as he walked away, She glanced at the bottle in her hands and then back at Jaden who was actually fitting in with the older kids in camp. She face palmed, Glenn was right. The world had gone to shit and there's zombies everywhere she goes and here she was drinking with her friends when she should be protecting them and Jaden. She hadn't even bothered to ask where she was last night or see if she was tucked in properly Katie just assumed Dinah or Paton did.

She began to walk away from everybody else and into the forest for some alone time, good thing for her that Shane was too busy lecturing the boys to notice her leaving. She walked just far enough to be out of hearing distance before sliding down the bark of a tree and sitting in the ground with her face resting on the palm of right hand.

She titled to the bottle back and forth, staring at the liquid inside glisten as the sun hit it. At this point she didn't want it but mostly because she was feeling the after affects of what could be a concussion and a hangover all at once. Could she give this up for Jaden, for a little girl that's not even hers? It wasn't just the drinking that she would need to give up but acting like a college kid too besides she graduated like two years ago.

She then thought that on the bright side she wouldn't wake up confused on why her head hurt or why a glass bottle was wedged between her boobs.

"Hey" she jumped a bit at the sound of a familiar harsh voice, on her right side just barely a few feet away was Daryl and behind him was Ike whose tail wagged with Joy and excitement. "Never came ta get ya dog back." She inhaled deeply, she felt a little like Lori at the moment seeing as she didn't just forget to look after Jaden but also Ike.

"I thought he would come back on his own, he really stayed the whole time with you?" Daryl motioned with his hand for Ike to go to Katie. Ike hesitated, a small whine coming from the back of his throat before prancing up next to her and licking at her face with slobbery kisses.

She pushed him back lightly by the scruff of his fur. "He wasn't much of ah problem" he grunted, getting ready to turn around and head back for his little isolated part of camp before something in her hands caught h his eye. "Where tha hell did ya get that!?" he pointed to bottle in her hands.

"Ryan and Collin stole if from one of the bags Glenn came back with and we ummmm drank a little last night"

"Thought ah heard something last night" she shrugged her shoulders lazily.

"Sorry if it bothered you" she glanced back at the bottle a thought coming to the top of her head; slowly she got up and walked towards him. "I shouldn't of been doing that crap, Jaden might not be mine but I should've of been watching her and Ike last night. Besides I need to prove that I'm responsible enough to take care of myself if I want to take care of Jaden." My hand outstretched towards him, giving him the bottle. He reluctantly took it before I left.


	9. Jaden

DIUC: What you have described sounds like the ultimate party, when there really is a zombie apocalypse this will be the first thing I do.

Special thanks to anyone who fav'ed and followed, it's been awhile so I didn't keep track of it.

_I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined_  
_I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned_  
_Staring at the blank page before you_  
_Open up the dirty window_  
_Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find_

_Reaching for something in the distance_  
_So close you can almost taste it_  
_Release your inhibitions_  
_Feel the rain on your skin_  
_No one else can feel it for you_  
_Only you can let it in_  
_No one else, no one else_  
_Can speak the words on your lips_  
_Drench yourself in words unspoken_  
_Live your life with arms wide open_  
_Today is where your book begins_  
_The rest is still unwritten_

_Unwritten- Natasha Bedingfield_

. . .

Three years earlier

the phone in Katie's hands was on the brink of falling out onto the pavement and cracking the glass like had happened too many of her friends' phones and iPods. Her body leaned up against the side of the brick building she had been in until her college friends called Julie to come and get her.

She had only recently turned twenty-one a few weeks ago, her head hurt as she thought ** the party Kyle and the boys threw when they surprised her for her birthday. Instead of taking her to a night club like most would, they had one at the apartment where she was living.

Andrew and Kyle decorated the whole apartment with cheap party store streamers, balloons, and anything else you would have at a little kid's party. To her surprise they played party games such as pin the tail on the donkey, truth or dare [clean version], and everything she had played with her other friends growing up. They served ice cream cake and soda. She had asked Collin why they weren't going out and drinking with her at one point. She vaguely remembered him saying 'This will be the last day we'll ever get to be children with you again, although when we first meet we were already too old to play this stuff. Kyle and Andrew thought it best just to remembering the good times before it goes away.'

When he told her that she thought of her family and how she was no longer the little girl who got praise for bringing home principal's honor roll on her report card, the girl who stayed up with her dad and brother and watched horror movies and old British TV shows like Red Dwarf and The Young Ones.

They had already left a week ago to go back to their colleges, which were scattered everywhere across the country. Hell, Dinah had even come and she was learning abroad somewhere in Europe.

Now she felt sick as the street lights flickered along with the cars flashing everywhere across the parking lot.

Katie closed her eyes before she heard a slight sighing sound, "There you are." She turned her head in the direction of the familiar voice. Julie stood a few feet away; Katie's vision noticed that she was wearing black stretchy sweat pants and a large simple purple shirt. The clothing was obviously from the Maternity section of Target. Julie was fairly taller than Katie, but also a year younger. Only twenty years old and she was already becoming a mother, something Katie would rather not touch with a thirty-foot poll for another ten to fifteen years.

Julie had dark brown hair that curled in an elegant manor, however it was pulled into a casual bun that did nothing to flatter her thin yet beautiful features. Her face was pale and just the tiniest bit narrow with dimple-like features that didn't take away from the fact that dark circles laid under her tired brown eyes. She fit the stressed hormonal nine-and-two-weeks pregnant woman picture.

"I can't do this Katie, I'm just too busy to pick you up from random parts of town," Julie glanced over at Katie in the passenger seat. Her legs where pulled up close to her body, her head in-between them. Katie's hair draped her face like a curtain, making any sign of emotion unreadable.

"I'm sorry," she chocked out.

"Is it that bad? You sound much worse than I thought you would be."

Katie hesitated answering, thinking over the night's events. "There was a TV there, it was flipped over to the news," she paused. Julie raised her eyebrow wondering if she was delirious. "He... He got caught, they said he was tried for murdering his long term girlfriend... he was living in North Carolina."

"Whose h-" Julie stopped short, thinking of the only person that Katie could possibly mean; she glanced back over towards her again. Julie expected tears of joy, but her face was dry.

A giggle escaped Katie's lips, "I-I'm not scared anymore, Julie. He's going to die or get locked away. He can't come back now. That's why I drank more than I should have, I haven't been this relaxed for two years." Her voice was a bit slurred as she said the last couple of words.

"This shouldn't become a regular thing though. You'll kill yourself one day if no one's there to stop you from driving." Her tone was serious, trying to get off the topic of... him.

"I know, I know, mom. Drugs and alcohol are bad for me, I get it." She said sarcastically.

"Katie I'm Seri- . . . owe!" Katie head snapped to the side as Julie let out a low moan of pain; the car pulled over away from traffic.

"Julie?"

Julie's hand rubbed her large stomach. "Katie, I-I think the baby's coming," she took long deep breaths.

"I'll drive." Katie grabbed the car door's handle, but was stopped short by Julie's arm.

"No, you're under the influence. I can drive the distance, there's a hospital a mile away. I can make it."

. . .

Tick tock, tick tock. Each second seemed to last a minute on the clock, hours of doing nothing but staring at it in a waiting room did nothing to ease my muscles or calm my heart that felt as though it was pounding into my ribs.

It wasn't as though there was much to do in a waiting room anyway seeing as there's no use in reading magazines from the 1990's. I glanced over towards the doors she had gone through before leaving me to wait for her mom and sister Christen.

At the moment Christen sat in the seat next to me, acting like she's keeping her cool by reading a book when she hasn't flipped the page in an hour. Their Mom had gone in to be there for her as well as _him_.

Damn jerk didn't bother to be there for her when she needed it most during the pregnancy, hell he even denied it being his kid, said it had to be some other guys before leaving her for some dumb girl with low self esteem. It wasn't till last month did he finally accept it was his child and finally took her back after she begged him.

I had wanted to say something to her about how she shouldn't want a douche like him back but I knew that she wouldn't listen to me. Out of all the people she fell in love with, it was John. All he did was work for low pay as a fed ex guy and then used girls like Julie who just couldn't get enough of him.

I had done some research on him when she first got pregnant and learned that she wasn't the first girl he got knocked up but she was the first to keep it. When I showed her my findings she didn't believe me, she was clouded by her daydreams of having a nice little house and three kids with John and they would live happily ever after.

"Katie!" I snapped out of my thoughts, Christen stood over me, her hand grabbing my arm. "Come on we get to see the baby now" I lightly smiled before standing up and walking beside her, I hope that at least something good will come from that child.

. . .

"Hey Christen I need to do something real quick before I see it" I said, we were coming close to her room before something in the other hall caught my eye.

She nodded before heading down, not in any way curious about where I was going as I stomped my way back to what I saw.

Before long I had made it to my destination only to confirm what I had saw. John had his back pressed up against the wall behind him while he chatted away with some nurse or mid wife with blond hair and hour glass curves. John had short black that glistened with grease or some kind of cheap hair gel. He was a good foot taller with me but had a skinny build. He sort of fit the college dropout loser category.

"Hey John!" Both of them snapped their heads towards me. "Congratulations on the kid, your _girlfriend _might be looking for you so we better go see her" My voice dripped with sarcasm as I watched the nurse scamper away.

. . .

"It's a girl" Christen whispered into my ear as soon as me and John entered the room, the first thing that caught my eye was the tiny bundle wrapped in a blanket being held by Julie who had the most warm and living smile I've ever seen.

"Do you want to hold her" Julie said in a hoarse voice, I slowly walked over towards her holding my arms out before I gently took the fragile infant out of her arms.

I swayed on my feet while staring at the tiny rosy cheek faced. She had a dark curly tuft of hair on the top of her head. Her eyes where closed keeping me from telling whose eyes she has, I hoped it was Julie's. I honestly wanted this baby to have the least amount of John in her.

As I stared at her mesmerized at her new born features, I caught what looked like a small gummy smile. A single tear fell from my eyes, the headache I had numbing away. Till the day I had my own child and long after that I know I have to love her, the way I knew her father wasn't and to care for her when her mother couldn't.

"Her names Jaden, after my grandmother"


End file.
